They are our past and our future; the poles between which our desire unceasingly is discharged. A desire in which love and hatred so perfectly oppose themselves, that we cannot voluntarily move, but await the extraordinary compulsion of the deluge and the earthquake. Their finish has inspired the limits of all arts and ascetic movements. Their affections and indifferences have been a guide to all reformers and tyrants. Their appearances in our dreams of machinery have brought a vision of nude and fabulous epochs. O pride so hostile to our charity. But what their pride has retained, we may by charity more generously recover.
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Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Prologue", op. 8 no. 1 (1936), published 1936 [ high voice and orchestra ], from Our Hunting Fathers, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: John Versmoren
This text was added to the website: 2004-07-05
Line count: 15
Word count: 104