Sunday, November 22, 2009

Day 22 - Steady progress on the NaNovel, and the saints come marching in.......

I added another 2,675 words today. I just quit a few minutes ago, when I realized that this scene could go on forever, but I couldn't. 45,877 now.




I  nearly went to sleep without posting, as I hadn't much to say, being pretty well written out for the day, but then I remembered that today  was the feast day of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of "music and also of musicians, composers, instrument makers, and poets." That seemed to call for a quick visit to The Turtle, since so many of us fall into one or more of those categories.

(The photo on the left is Saint Cecilia by Guido Reni, 1606 , as found at Wikipedia.)


In celebration of the feast, I offer the Sanctus from Gounod's Mass of St. Cecilia, sung by Stephen Costello.


 ....and this, the Grand Chorus from John Dryden's "A Song for St. Cecilia." For the entire poem, click here.

As from the pow'r of sacred lays
The spheres began to move,
And sung the great Creator's praise
To all the bless'd 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.



Isn't that last line a wondrous thing?

Good night, now. I wish you all a happy night and a year full of music and poetry.

7 comments:

Dominic Rivron said...

Yes, a great last line. I always think it's an understatement to describe music as being "emotional". The best music goes beyond that, into the awe-inspiring. I'm intrigued by the impression music can give that it's touching on things theologians and cosmologists would give their right arms to put into words.

I've just realised, now you've pointed out the significance of the date - I posted some music on my blog on StC's day!

Tess Kincaid said...

OMG. Stephen Costello is a good friend of my daughter's! I've met him. He's a handsome young man with a fabulous voice.

Unknown said...

Beautiful music, & I've always liked that Dryden poem. Living with a Catholic musician, St Cecilia has kind of a real place in our lives, since Eberle is very devoted to her. John Hollander wrote a book about 17th century verse form called "Untune the Sky."

Sandra Leigh said...

Dominic, yes! Yes! Music is -- LOL ! I started to say what music is, and found myself heading straight into a poem. Guess I'll save that idea for later. I went over to hear your song, and I loved it - thank you.

Willow, isn't it a small world?

John, please tell Eberle I'm with her. Even in my apostasy, I love to remember certain of the saints (and I'm a stickler for keeping everything to its season).

Karen said...

What a wonderfully uplifting post! Thank you for the reminder, the music, and the verse. This made my day!

Sandra Leigh said...

Karen, thank you for visiting. I'm glad you enjoyed the music. So did I.

Kathryn Magendie said...

Before I saw your comment, I thought how I loved that last line - music shall intune the sky - lovely!

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