Olympian bards who sung
Divine ideas below,
Which always find us young
And always read more

Olympian bards who sung
Divine ideas below,
Which always find us young
And always keep us so.

Then they began to sing
That extremely lovely thing,
"Scherzando! ma non troppo, ppp."

Then they began to sing
That extremely lovely thing,
"Scherzando! ma non troppo, ppp."

O, she will sing the savageness out of a bear!

O, she will sing the savageness out of a bear!

Sweetest the strain when in the song
The singer has been lost.

Sweetest the strain when in the song
The singer has been lost.

He who sings frightens away his ills.
[Sp., Quien canta, sus males espanta.]

He who sings frightens away his ills.
[Sp., Quien canta, sus males espanta.]

The tenor's voice is spoilt by affectation,
And for the bass, the beast can only bellow;
In read more

The tenor's voice is spoilt by affectation,
And for the bass, the beast can only bellow;
In fact, he had no singing education,
An ignorant, noteless, timeless, tuneless fellow.

Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul
And lap it in Elysium.

Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul
And lap it in Elysium.

At every close she made, th' attending throng
Replied, and bore the burden of the song:
So read more

At every close she made, th' attending throng
Replied, and bore the burden of the song:
So just, so small, yet in so sweet a note,
It seemed the music melted in the throat.

So she poured out the liquid music of her voice to quench the
thirst of his spirit.

So she poured out the liquid music of her voice to quench the
thirst of his spirit.