Poetic-Verses from ATHANASE
A Lady at the Virginals with Gentleman (English)
to Rembrandt van Rijn
« Consonantia, quae omnem musicae modulationem regit, praeter sonum fieri non potest… Etenim consonantia est dissimilium inter vocum in unum redacta concordia… Consonantia est acuti soni gravisque mixtura suaviter uniformiterque auribus accidens. »
('Consonance, which determines every musical modulation, can only be brought into being through sound...The fact is that to achieve consonance one must bring different voices into harmony to create a whole... Consonance is a mixture of high and low-pitched sounds which strikes the ear with both pleasure and uniformity.')
Boethius, De Musica,
Play, lovely child, let your fingers dance,
led by the hymn of the air and your radiant heart,
over the whiteness of dawn and the sweetly pale
keyboard with its fevered dreams of ether and elixir!
And you, O Harmonia, tender daughter of Aphrodite,
preside from the heavenly heights over these intimate moments,
remember Cadmus, your wedding, your magnificent dress
woven from azure thread by the sublime Graces!
Let this place be filled with your blue delicacy
like a perfume that flows from the hearts of violets
more tender than the serene strains of the virginal,
more entrancing than an utterance of the Delphic priestess!
And you, discreet mirror, welcome with your silence
chaste beings whose only raiment is their own transparency!
translated from the French of Athanase Vantchev de Thracy by Norton Hodges
11.01.08.
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A Lady at the Virginals with Gentleman (English)
A Lady at the Virginals with Gentleman (English)
