Saint Cecilia, a Roman virgin and martyr (230A.D.) is customarily the patron saint of tunes and the inventor of the organ. Dryden’s poem Alexander’s Feast is created in celebration of St Cecilia’s Working day on 22 November 1697.
The poem opens with Alexander the Good, son of Philip, King of Macedon, seated together with Thais, the youthful and beautiful Athenian courtesan, experiencing the banquet in the Persian town Persepolis in celebration of his victory around the Persian King Darius III in 331B.C. We are launched to the court musician Timotheus with his lyre and then explained to that Alexander was in fact the son of Jove, King of the gods, and Olympia. As a result, “the sovereign of the planet” begot the conqueror of the planet.
Timotheus sings in praise of Bacchus and the scene is loaded with drunken revelry. Because consuming is the sweet pleasure of the soldier, Alexander grows in vain and fights all his battles once more in his intellect. Viewing the insanity in Alexander’s eyes Timotheus adjustments his track into 1 designed to build a mood of pity. He sings of the slide of Darius, the Persian King, who was wonderful and good, but was deserted by his possess followers and his slain overall body left exposed to bare earth. The joy of victory evaporates from Alexander, and he sighs and begins shedding tears. Pity prepares the head for adore, and really like is the matter of Timotheus’ next tune. Alexander gazes at the truthful girl Thais and sighs. Eventually, oppressed with wine and appreciate the “vanquished hero” sinks upon Thais’ breast.
Timotheus now shifts the music to a louder pressure and rouses a sleeping Alexander to action. “Revenge,” cries Timotheus. The ghosts of the Greek troopers slain in the battle cry out for revenge. The tunes fires Alexander with a good zeal to damage. Thais qualified prospects Alexander to burn off Persepolis. In this she is like Helen, whose enthusiasm for the Trojan prince Paris resulted in the Greeks burning Troy.
At very last came St Cecilia, inventor of the organ. Influenced by God, she enlarges the bounds of tunes by incorporating duration to musical notes. Cecilia is outstanding to Timotheus, Dryden declares. Aged Timotheus need to generate the prize to her, or at minimum divide the crown.
“He raised a mortal to the skies
She drew an angel down.”
Timotheus raised Alexander to the skies making in the King’s brain the delusion of divine status. But Cecilia’s new music introduced an angel down from heaven.
In Alexander’s Feast music is proven to have a mighty selection of affect. Timotheus attracts his learn Alexander to different moods: satisfaction, bacchanalian revelry, martial zeal, pity, like, and spiritual devotion. The rhythms and seems in the refrains of each individual stanza echo the hero’s transforming feelings.
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