Music

"Apes and ivory, skulls and roses, in junks of old Hong-Kong, Gliding over a sea of dreams to a haunted shore of song."

"There's a barrel-organ carolling across a golden street In the city as the sun sinks low; And the music's not immortal; but the world has made it sweet And fulfilled it with the sunset glow."

"Wagner's music is better than it sounds."

"We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, Of whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems."

"One man with a dream, at pleasure, Shall go forth and conquer a crown And three with a new song's measure Can trample a kingdom down."

"How light the touches are that kiss The music from the chords of life!"

"He touched his harp, and nations heard, entranced, As some vast river of unfailing source, Rapid, exhaustless, deep, his numbers flowed, And opened new fountains in the human heart."

"Music resembles poetry: in each Are nameless graces which no methods teach And which a master-hand alone can reach."

"As some to Church repair, Not for the doctrine, but the music there."

"What woful stuff this madrigal would be In some starv'd hackney sonnetteer, or me! But let a Lord once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens! how the style refines!"

"Light quirks of music, broken and uneven, Make the soul dance upon a jig to Heav'n."

"By music minds an equal temper know, Nor swell too high, nor sink too low. * * * * * Warriors she fires with animated sounds; Pours balm into the bleeding lover's wounds."

"Hark! the numbers soft and clear, Gently steal upon the ear; Now louder, and yet louder rise And fill with spreading sounds the skies."

"In a sadly pleasing strain Let the warbling lute complain."

"Music's force can tame the furious beast."

"Seated one day at the organ, I was weary and ill at ease, And my fingers wandered idly Over the noisy keys. I do not know what I was playing, Or what I was dreaming then, But I struck one chord of music Like the sound of a great Amen."

"We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof."

"Above the pitch, out of tune, and off the hinges."

"Musik ist Poesie der Luft."

"Sie zog tief in sein Herz, wie die Melodie eines Liedes, die aus der Kindheit heraufklingt."

"The soul of music slumbers in the shell, Till waked and kindled by the Master's spell; And feeling hearts—touch them but lightly—pour A thousand melodies unheard before!"

"Give me some music; music, moody food Of us that trade in love."

"I am advised to give her music o' mornings; they say it will penetrate."

"And it will discourse most eloquent music."

"You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass."

"How irksome is this music to my heart! When such strings jar, what hope of harmony?"

"Orpheus with his lute made trees, And the mountain-tops that freeze, Bow themselves, when he did sing: To his music, plants and flowers Ever sprung; as sun and showers, There had made a lasting spring."

"Everything that heard him play, Even the billows of the sea, Hung their heads, and then lay by; In sweet music is such art: Killing care and grief of heart Fall asleep, or, hearing, die."

"The choir, With all the choicest music of the kingdom, Together sung Te Deum."

"One whom the music of his own vain tongue Doth ravish like enchanting harmony."

"Though music oft hath such a charm To make bad good, and good provoke to harm."

"Let music sound while he doth make his choice; Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end, Fading in music."

"To me, the wonderful thing about music is a love affair between the performer and the composer, and between the composer and his audience. This love affair is a tripartite thing."

"There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; Such harmony is in immortal souls; But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it."

"Therefore the poet Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones and floods; Since nought so stockish, hard and full of rage, But music for the time doth change his nature."

"The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils."

"Music do I hear? Ha! ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is, When time is broke and no proportion kept!"

"Wilt thou have music? hark! Apollo plays And twenty caged nightingales do sing."

"Preposterous ass, that never read so far To know the cause why music was ordain'd! Was it not to refresh the mind of man, After his studies or his usual pain?"

"This music crept by me upon the waters, Allaying both their fury and my passion With its sweet air."

"Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows!"

"If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again! it had a dying fall: O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour."

"Song like a rose should be; Each rhyme a petal sweet; For fragrance, melody, That when her lips repeat The words, her heart may know What secret makes them so. Love, only Love."

"Musick! soft charm of heav'n and earth, Whence didst thou borrow thy auspicious birth? Or art thou of eternal date, Sire to thyself, thyself as old as Fate."

"See to their desks Apollo's sons repair, Swift rides the rosin o'er the horse's hair! In unison their various tones to tune, Murmurs the hautboy, growls the hoarse bassoon; In soft vibration sighs the whispering lute, Tang goes the harpsichord, too-too the flute, Brays the loud trumpet, squeaks the fiddle sharp, Winds the French-horn, and twangs the tingling harp; Till, like great Jove, the leader, figuring in, Attunes to order the chaotic din."

"So dischord ofte in musick makes the sweeter lay."

"Music revives the recollections it would appease."

"The gauger walked with willing foot, And aye the gauger played the flute; And what should Master Gauger play But Over the Hills and Far Away."

"How her fingers went when they moved by note Through measures fine, as she marched them o'er The yielding plank of the ivory floor."

"It is the little rift within the lute That by and by will make the music mute, And ever widening slowly silence all."