A Song for Saint Cecilia’s Day, 1687

From harmony, from heavenly harmony,     This universal frame began;   When Nature underneath a heap       Of jarring atoms lay,     And could not heave her head The tuneful voice was heard from high,       Arise, ye more than dead! Then cold and hot, and moist and dry,     In order to their stations leap,       And Music’s power obey. From harmony, from heavenly harmony,       This universal frame began:       From harmony to harmony, Through all the compass of the notes it ran,     The diapason closing full in man. What passion cannot Music raise and quell?       When Jubal struck the chorded shell,     His listening brethren stood around,       And, wondering, on their faces fell,     To worship that celestial sound. Less than a God they thought there could not dwell       Within the hollow of that shell,       That spoke so sweetly and so well. What passion cannot Music raise and quell?       The trumpet’s loud clangor         Excites us to arms,       With shrill notes of anger,         And mortal alarms. The double double double beat         Of the thundering drum         Cries, Hark! the foes come; Charge, charge, ’t is too late to retreat!       The soft complaining flute       In dying notes discovers       The woes of hopeless lovers, Whose dirge is whispered by the warbling lute.       Sharp violins proclaim Their jealous pangs, and desperation, Fury, frantic indignation, Depth of pains, and height of passion       For the fair, disdainful dame.   But O, what art can teach,     What human voice can reach,   The sacred organ’s praise?     Notes inspiring holy love,   Notes that wing their heavenly ways     To mend the choirs above. Orpheus could lead the savage race; And trees uprooted left their place,       Sequacious of the lyre; But bright Cecilia raised the wonder higher; When to her organ vocal breath was given, An angel heard, and straight appeared       Mistaking earth for heaven. GRAND CHORUS As from the power of sacred lays     The spheres began to move, And sung the great Creator’s praise     To all the blessed above; So, when the last and dreadful hour This crumbling pageant shall devour, The trumpet shall be heard on high, The dead shall live, the living die, And music shall untune the sky.