When first listening to British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Christmas oratorio Hodie, I was struck by the words RVW sets towards the end of the final movement.
On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity (1629), John Milton
- Ring out, ye crystal spheres,
- Once bless our human ears,
- If ye have power to touch our senses so;
- And let your silver chime
Move in melodious time,- And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow;
- And with your ninefold harmony
- Make up full consort to the angelic symphony.
- Such music (as 'tis said)
- Before was never made,
- But when of old the sons of the morning sung,
- While the Creator great
- His constellations set,
- And the well-balanced world on hinges hung,
- And cast the dark foundations deep,
- And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep.
- Yea, truth and justice then
- Will down return to men,
- Orbed in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing,
- Mercy will sit between,
- Throned in celestial sheen,
- With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering;
- And heaven, as at some festival,
- Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.
I can’t say why this particular phrase stuck with me after all this time. I don’t really listen to this work often, but still, it haunts me so.
It certainly is a rather special ode to music, with mentions of musical instruments and unique sounds. Yet it is the three lines with Hinges Hung, Dark Foundations Deep, and Weltering Waves that grab my attention.
I think it a beautiful set of verse, and reading these 24 lines continues to move my soul.
Hopefully you too!
VS
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