Purcell Ode, and Other Poems

P u r c e l l O d e And Other Poems

By Robert Bridges
Chicago Way & Williams 1896 Copyright By Way & Williams MDCCCXCVI University Press: John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A. Two Hundred Copies printed on Van Gelder paper.




The words of the Ode as here given differ slightly from those which appeared with Dr. Parry’s Cantata, sung at the Leeds Festival and at the Purcell Commemoration in London last year.
Since the poem was never perfected as a musical ode,—and I was not in every particular responsible for it,—I have tried to make it more presentable to readers, and in so doing have disregarded somewhat its original intention. But it must still ask indulgence, because it still betrays the liberties and restrictions which seemed to me proper in an attempt to meet the requirements of modern music.
Such questions are generally left to the musician, and it should not be unwelcome to hear what may be said on the literary side. I shall therefore state what appear to me to be impedi ments in the way of this announced happy marriage of music and poetry, and enumerate some of the difficulties which, it seems to me, must especially beset the musician who would attempt to interpret pure literature by musical declamation.