82 Milton D. Baumgartner 



text of Dryden, which will aid in perpetuating the composer and 

 lyricist. 



2. The Relation of Dryden's Other Lyrics to Germany 



The other lyrics of Dryden show comparatively little relation 

 to Germany, save the first Cecelia ode, A song for Saint Cecelia's 

 Day. On the whole this ode lacks the virility of Alexander's 

 Feast, and with the exception of the first two and the last stanzas 

 is either descriptive or imitative of the sounds of instruments, as 

 lines 25-28: 



" The trumpets loud clangor 

 Excites us to arms 

 What shrill notes of anger 

 And mortal alarms." 



It was the popularity of the second Saint Cecelia ode of Dryden 

 that brought the first to the attention of the Germans, just as the 

 success of the composition for the second induced Handel to set 

 the first to music in 1739. 



In a footnote in his Essay, '''^ Warton published the second stanza 

 which induced Mendelssohn to say : " Unser Verf asser . . . fiihrt 

 bei dieser Gelegenheit in einer Note eine Strophe aus einem unbe- 

 kannt gewordenen Gedichte von Dryden auf die Musik an, die 

 wir ihrer vorziiglichen Schonheit halber hierher setzen wollen."^^ 

 He not only published the original of the stanza but also made a 

 translation. Nicolai also included this in his translation of the 

 Essay,'^ but the superiority of Mendelssohn's translation is veri 

 apparent when compared with that of Nicolai. 



Mendelssohn. 



" Wie machtig kann die Tonkunst das Gemuth bewegen! 

 Als Jubals Saitenspiel erklang, 

 Da horchten um ihn seine Briider, 

 Und fielen auf ihr Antlitz'nieder, 

 Vor diesem himmlischen Gesang; 

 Ein Gott, so dachten sie, muss sich hierinnen regen ; 



''■^ Loco citato, I, p. 52. 



"Loco citato, IV, p. 513. 1758. 



73 Loco citato, VL P- 53- 1763. 



