What passion cannot music raise and quell!
Good question!
Wish I had thought of that one.
But John Dryden and George Frideric Handel beat me to it by a few hundred years.
Read John Dryden's Poem Here
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_for_St._Cecilia's_Day_(Handel)
The title of the oratorio refers to Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians. The main theme of the text is the Pythagorean theory of harmonia mundi, that music was a central force in the earth's creation.
What passion cannot music raise, and quell?
When Jubal struck the chorded shell,
His listening brethren stood 'round.
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?
BTW...
In the Bible Story, Jubal was the son of Lamech and Adah, a descendant of Cain. He was the ancestor of all who played the lyre and pipe (instrument). See Book of Genesis 4:20-21.
George Friedrich Händel, 1685 - 1759
Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, HWV 76
Faye Newton, soprano
Bernhard Berchtold, tenor
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
Conducted by Ton Koopman
