Descend ye nine (Pope, set by C. Parry) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Descend, ye Nine! descend and sing;
    The breathing instruments inspire,
  Wake into voice each silent string,
    And sweep the sounding lyre;
    In a sadly-pleasing strain
    Let the warbling lute complain:
      Let the loud trumpet sound,
      Till the roofs all around
      The shrill echoes rebound:
  While in more lengthen'd notes and slow,
  The deep, majestic, solemn organs blow.
      Hark! the numbers soft and clear,
      Gently steal upon the ear;
      Now louder, and yet louder rise,
      And fill with spreading sounds the skies;
  Exulting in triumph now swell the bold notes,
  In broken air, trembling, the wild music floats;
      Till, by degrees, remote and small,
        The strains decay,
        And melt away,
      In a dying, dying fall.

Input by John Fowler

Authorship

Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

Ode on St. Cecilia's Day

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918)

Ode to St. Cecelia's Day

Date added to the website: 2009-09-04.

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