Notes provided by Laura Prichard:
In the second line, the names of the notes of the six-note Guidonian scale are hidden in the first syllables of each word: UT RElevent MIserum FAtum SOLitosque LAbores.
The text first appears in the music rudiments book "Compendium musical platinum-germanicum" (1591) by Adam Gumpelzhaimer (1559-1625), Cantor and Präzeptor at the school and church of St. Anna in Augsburg, Germany and at the Augsburg Cathedral. The saying was well known throughout Europe by the middle of the seventeenth century.

Text Authorship:

• by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, first published 1591 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

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

• by Hanns Eisler (1898 - 1962), "Zweck der Musik (Lateinischer Spruch)", 1942, from Sonette Lieder, no. 8, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Hanns Eisler (1898 - 1962), "Zweck der Musik (Lateinischer Spruch)", 1939, from Vier Lieder für Gesang und Klavier, no. 2, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Hanns Eisler.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (David A. Poirier) , "What’s the Point of Music (Latin Proverb)", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The Point of Music (Latin proverb)", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

This text was added to the website: 2004-01-16
Line count: 2
Word count: 12