Henry Purcell - 1691/2 (Z. 379 b): «If Music Be The Food Of Love» (verses by Colonel Henry Heveningham) | Текст песни

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• Henry Purcell
• 1691/2 (Z. 379 b): «If Music Be The Food Of Love» (verses by Colonel Henry Heveningham)

If music be the food of love,
sing on till I am fill’d with joy;
for then my list’ning soul you move
with pleasures that can never cloy,
your eyes, your mien, your tongue declare
that you are music ev’rywhere.
Stealing and giving odour!

Pleasures invade both eye and ear,
so fierce the transports are, they wound,
and all my senses feasted are,
tho’ yet the treat is only sound.
Sure I must perish by your charms,
unless you save me in your arms.

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Many choristers believe this song to be a Purcell setting of a Shakespearean text, but the only direct quotation
is the first line, which matches the opening seven words of Twelfth Night. Purcell set this text twice in the
1690s, and made two slightly different versions of the first setting. The first version of the earlier setting for
solo voice and harpsichord (Z. 379 b), is here arranged for a capella mixed choir and transposed down two
whole tones. In this version Purcell set only the first verse to music, so the alternate version, which was
published in the Gentleman’s Journal of June 1692 (Z. 379 a) has been consulted to provide a second verse;
singers should note the rhythmic differences at the outset of each verse in all parts.
This song was made famous in modern times by the countertenor Alfred Deller in the version arranged by Sir
Michael Tippett and Walter Bergmann.

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