Observations placeholder

The Zibaldone – Johann Simon Mayr [translated by John Alitt]

If beside this verdant spacious bank
You could hear Orpheus’ melody divine
Which frequently arrests the beat of wings
And liberates the river’s rapid flow;
Silent you may watch trees loose themselves
From their deep roots, rugged mountains move
Flocks of birds take wing, the wild beasts stir
The river pause, hearing this joyful note
O soul who animates these earthly shapes
Bestow their form, rejoice in harmony –
Who are indeed yourself, true harmony
Behold your contours known to you alone
Radiant though as yet you dwell in sleep
Oppressed, imprisoned by the miry clay;
If with frail tongue you can utter your first origin
Speak out, that I may declare on paper
The value, order, out of music’s modes.
.........................

Since I compose
Reveal your inspiration
Your rich inebriation
Should my song fail
To free you from your dungeon
Yet shall you still return
To beauty
Your first habitation
Where each true melody is freely born
Compared to which
Our earth is but a shadow