by Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744)
Descend ye nine Matches original text
Language: English
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.
Composition:
- Set to music by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "Descend ye nine", 1889 [ chorus and orchestra ], from Ode to St. Cecelia's Day, no. 2
Text Authorship:
- by Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744), no title, appears in Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, no. 1, first published 1708
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Luca Antonio Pagnini) , no title, written 1800, appears in Ode di Alessandro Pope in onore di Santa Cecilia, no. 1
Researcher for this page: John Fowler
This text was added to the website: 2009-09-04
Line count: 21
Word count: 114