Critical analysis: song for st.

celia’s day:

“A Song for St. Cecilia's Day”, composed in 1687, is the first of two great odes
written by poet laureate John Dryden and set to music for the annual St. Cecilia's
Day celebration held every November 22 from 1683 to 1703 and sponsored by the
London Musical Society. St. Cecilia, an early Christian martyr and patron saint of
music, was honoured at these public celebrations with concerts and religious
ceremonies featuring every year an original commemorative ode commissioned by
the Society. Italian composer G. B. Draghi wrote the first musical arrangement for
“A Song for St. Cecilia's Day” in 1687. In the 1730s, G. F. Handel created
superlative new musical scores for both of the St. Cecilia odes of Dryden.

Summary, Interpretation and Analysis Song for Saint Cecilia’s Day:

The origin of music has always remained a mystery though it has always attracted
man towards itself since the time immemorial. So myths and legends were born to
justify the origination of music. Saint Cecilia was such a legendary figure of the
second century, who was said to have established music as a divine art on earth.
Though her connection with music is quite uncertain, there are legends of her
attracting an angel down to earth by singing and she even came to be spoken of the
inventor of the organ. Dryden wrote Song for Saint Cecilia’s Day for the
performance with orchestra to celebrate the festival of Saint Cecilia’s Day in
1687. It is an interesting fact that the greatest English composer of the day
Henry Purcel composed the music for the song. Saint Cecilia was a Christian figure,
but while dealing with the theme, Dryden has drawn upon the pagan philosophical
doctrine of Pythagoras to explain the power of music. The concluding chorus is,
however, Christian in spirit referring to the Apocalypse of the Bible.

The poem begins with the description of the process of the creation of the
universe:

From Harmony, from heavenly Harmony This universal frame began: When nature
underneath a heap Of jarring atoms lay And could not heave her head, The tuneful
voice was heard from high, Arise, ye more than dead!

This is a Pythagorean doctrine. Pythagoras saw the universe as the manifestation

of the heavenly harmony which he believed had held contrary things together. This
was not merely a conjecture for him: the essential element for him in harmony was
numbers and so harmony was founded upon numerical proportions as it is also today.

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But while drawing upon the Pythagorean theory Dryden has also used the biblical
theory of Creation in which man was the latest and the best product in the process
of Genesis: The diapason closing full in Man.

In the subsequent stanzas Dryden illustrates how human beings are over-powered
by various kinds of music. First of all, he refers to Jubal who is the father of
music in ancient Jewish literature and who is thought to have invented the lyre
made of strings stretched across the shell of a tortoise. Here Jubal is introduced
to show that music can force man towards divinity and thus testifies to its divine
association,

Less than a god they thought there could not dwell Within the hollow of that shell
That spoke so sweetly and so well.

In the third stanza Dryden describes how wild music of trumpet incites the passion
of anger in human hearts, and how the wild beats of drum leads them to take up
arms against the enemies. In the fourth stanza Dryden shows that music even can
reflect the most refined feelings like those of the “hopeless lovers”. In the fifth
stanza the power of the musical instrument violin is described. It is to be noted
that Dryden has carefully selected different rhythms in describing different
instruments. Thus he has conveyed their various kinds of impact.

In the sixth stanza the divine qualities of the musical instrument like the organ
have been contrasted with those of the human voice: What human voice can reach
The sacred organ's praise?

Dryden refers to organ and its divine association in order to come to the central
figure of the poem, St Cecilia. But before that he refers to the mythical, musical
figure of ancient Greece, Orpheus who is attributed with so many miracles he had
performed by his power of music with the lyre. But according to Dryden, St Cecilia
had performed greater miracle by attracting an angel who mistook earth for
heaven by listening to her music.

In the grand Chorus he concludes by uttering a prophecy that as the universe was
created from the power generated out the musical harmony, so the universe will
cease to exist with the end of that harmony: 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.

This theory is wholly Biblical in spirit referring to the Apocalypse prophesied by St

John in the final chapter of the Bible. Dryden’s originally is that he has used it to

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illustrate the power and position of music in the universe. We are reminded of few
lines the great Canadian pop-icon of the 20th century Leonard Cohen has sung to us
in The Great Event:

It is going to happen very soon, The great event, Which will end the horror, Which
will end the sorrow. Next Tuesday, when the sun goes down, I will play the
Moonlight Sonata backwards. This will reverse the effect Of the world's mad
plunge into suffering For the last 200 million years.

St.Cecilia, a Christian martyr of the third century was the patron saint of music.
Dryden wrote this ode to celebrate St. Cecilia’s Day viz November, 22, an annual
festival organized by a London Musical Society. The Universal Frame began from
Heavenly Harmony when Nature lay beneath a heap of jarring atoms. The tuneful
voice was heard from high above and could not heave her head. All those who are
spiritually dead are to arise; the cold, hot, moist and dry; the qualities of the four
elements, according to the ancient and medieval natural philosophy; and witness the
music’s power obey when their stations leap. From Harmony to Harmony the
Universal Frame began and ran through all the compass of the notes of the
diapason closing full in man.

Every passion can raise and quell music when Jubal; mentioned in The Old
Testament of The Bible in Genesis 4:21 as the “Father of all such as handle the
harp and organ”; struck the chorded shell while his listening brethren stood around
wondering and on their faces fell to worship that celestial sound. Within the hollow
of that shell, they thought there could not dwell anyone lesser than a god who
spoke so softly and so well. The loud clangour of the trumpet excited them to arms
with their shrill notes of anger and mortal alarms. The double beat of the
thundering drum declared that their foes had come to charged forward for it was
too late to retreat. In dying notes the soft complaining flute discovers the woes of
hopeless lovers whose dirge is whispered by the warbling lute. The sharp violins
proclaim their jealous pangs and desperation, fury, frantic indignation, depths of
pain and heights of passion for fair disdainful Dame.

The kind of art that teaches and human voice that reaches the sacred organs
praise that is filled with notes of inspiring holy love and wings their heavenly ways
to mend the choir above. Orpheus, in Greek mythology was a Thracian poet and
musician whose lyre could charm beasts and move rocks and trees. However, the
bright Cecilia raised the wonder even higher when she gave her organ vocal breath;
an angel heard the tune and straight away appeared before her, mistaking Earth
for Heaven. The grand chorus of this song states that from the powers of sacred

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lays, according to ancient belief, the stars created music as they revolved in their
spheres. They sang praises to the Great Creator and to all His blessed ones above.
So when the last and dreadful hour come to pass, this crumbling pageant shall
devour, the trumpet shall be heard on high, the dead shall rise up from the grave,
the living shall die and the music shall untune the sky.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2005

Contrast in 'A Song for St. Cecilia's Day'

‘A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day’ is the type of poem that sweeps you off your feet. Its
musical theme makes it timeless, like all great classics, and John Dryden’s
magnificent use of contrast throughout the poem gives it tremendous impact.
Contrast is perhaps the most important key to this poem’s greatness. There is
specific contrast in the form of antithesis within several of the stanzas, and there
is more general contrast between the stanzas themselves. These two types of
contrast help the poem fulfill its purpose

John Dryden wrote ‘A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day’ to honor St. Cecilia by celebrating
and glorifying music. Each of the poem’s seven stanzas furthers this purpose.
Stanza 1 claims that ‘from harmony, from Heav’nly harmony this universal frame
began.’ This stanza tells the reader two things: first, that music is powerful, and
second, that music is primeval. This knowledge informs the reader that, in general,
music is very important, and, in specific, music was instrumental during the creation
of the world.

Stanza 2 accomplishes a similar purpose. Dryden repeats the line ‘What passion
cannot music raise and quell!’ two times. This line is designed to reinforce the
earlier statement about music’s power. However, Stanza 2 goes farther than
Stanza 1, declaring that music not only was powerful at the beginning of time, but
that it is currently powerful, that it is imminent and that it influences human
emotions and actions in the present.

Stanzas 3-6 expand on the messages of the first two stanzas by describing the
effects produced by specific instruments: trumpets, drums, flutes, lutes, violins,
and organs. The seventh and last stanza praises St. Cecilia herself: ‘When to her
[St. Cecilia’s] organ, vocal breath was given/An angel heard and straight
appeared/Mistaking earth for Heav’n.’ So, the poem concludes by saying that the
beauty of earthly music competes with the beauty of Heaven. Christians do not
quite agree with this, but still, Dryden’s poem is amazing, primarily because he was
so good at employing different levels of contrast.

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The most direct contrast in the poem is called antithesis. Antithesis appears
several times, most notably in Stanzas 1, 2, and 5. In Stanza 1, Dryden personifies
music by having it call to the still earth, ‘Arise ye more than dead!’ Then, in
response, ‘Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry/In order to their stations
leap/And music’s pow’r obey.’ Antithesis occurs in the words ‘cold, and hot, and
moist, and dry.’ Dryden illustrates music’s power by showing how elements of all
different, even opposite kinds, obey music’s command.

Another example of antithesis is in Stanza 5, where Dryden discusses violins:

‘Sharp violins proclaim…/Depth of pains and height of passion.’ By using the
contrasting words ‘depth’ and ‘height’ as well as ‘pains’ and ‘passion’ Dryden shows
the broad reach of emotions that music can express and evoke. It is yet another
statement of music’s influence and power.

Equally as effective as direct antithesis is the more general contrast that exists
between the different stanzas. Stanzas 3-6 talk about the specific power of
several different instruments, and the contrast between the sound of trumpets
and flutes shows how the great range of human experience that music can express.
Stanza3 is about drums and trumpets and how these instruments serve as calls to
war and expressions of human anger, violence, and justice. In Stanza 4, the focus is
on human sorrow as Dryden writes of the ‘soft complaining flute.’ The more
tempestuous human emotions are discussed in Stanza 5, as Dryden describes the
sounds of violins. Finally, in Stanza 6, Dryden describes the organ, and how it plays
holy, religious music. The contrasts in these poems show the reader that music
influences human wars, human sorrow, human emotion, and human religion.

In ‘St. Cecilia’s Day,’ Dryden offers a comprehensive analysis of music’s power in

the past and in the present. In another poem, ‘Grand Chorus,’ he ‘finishes the
thought,’ so to speak: he predicts that music will also play an instrumental (pun
intended) role at the end of the world:

<>‘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.’