Musical Rambling IX: Sainte Colombe's pensive viola da gamba

I owe to a great friend the lucky discovery of the austere delights of music for viola da gamba. Amongst the greatest practitioners one must number the Sieur de Sainte Colombe, whose aloofness in life is magnificently reflected in his impeccable music.

When the fumes of turbid sentimentalism fog one's spirit, this music acts a potent medicine.

From harmony to harmony

George Friederick Handel's An Ode for St. Cecilia's Day
is a true feast of mind & senses for disciples of Pythagoras, old and new. The text was written by poet laureate John Dryden, and is replete with Pythagorean themes, such as one finds throughout the works of the English Rosicrucian Dr. Fludd. Consider, for instance, the majestic Chorus:

From harmony, from heav'nly harmony,
This universal frame began,
From harmony to harmony,
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in man

and compare it with the figure at page 47 of Robert Fludd
by Joselin Godwin. You will not fail to notice the close kinship between them.

It is so easy to lose oneself in the sublime and solemn gait of Handel's music and forget the equally wonderful rhymes of Dryden. Yet, for the full degustation of this rare pearl it is imperative to read carefully the libretto, and listen once more to the tunes.

We are, my fellow lovers of unbridled knowledge, los arduous alumnos de Pitágoras, as the great Argentinian bard knew so well (see La Noche Ciclica). Let us therefore pay homage to our Master and to the Celestial Muse Saint Cecilia, by listening reverently & gratefully to this heavenly music.