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about
The Orphic Hymns are ancient Greek poems that were part of the multi-god worshipping religious practice of Orphism. In 1787, the Orphic Hymns were translated into English by Thomas Taylor. A second edition was published in 1824. There are 87 known Orphic Hymns.
In 2019, I began composing music for the Orphic Hymns. As of the date of this writing, I have composed music for 18 of Taylor's hymns with plans to eventually cover the entire canon.
As the sole copyright owner of this music, I have a strange favor to ask: I beg that you ADAPT and CHANGE this piece's music to suit your needs. Obviously the words are set in place; they are in worship and service of a specific deity. The music, however, needs to be malleable. Change the rhythm. Change the key. Change the mode. Add sections. Improvise. Here's the thing: when music stays the same and is played "exactly the same" as it supposedly was in the past, it becomes museum music. Personally, though I've had extensive training in the subject, I can't stand museum music. No matter how pretty or perfectly-played museum music is, it will always have an air of deadness about it. So change this tune, beat it up, deconstruct it, pull it apart and put it together again, because that's what I think the gods would want us to do. In my mind, keeping the tunes alive, flexible, and vital helps us connect with the gods who gave us the ability to create music in the first place.
lyrics
O Jove much-honor'd, Jove supremely great,
To thee our holy rites we consecrate,
Our pray'rs and expiations, king divine,
For all things round thy head exalted shine.
The earth is thine, and mountains swelling high,
The sea profound, and all within the sky.
Saturnian king, descending from above,
Magnanimous, commanding, sceptred Jove;
All-parent, principle and end of all,
Whose pow'r almighty, shakes this earthly ball;
Ev'n Nature trembles at thy mighty nod,
Loud-sounding, arm'd with light'ning, thund'ring God.
Source of abundance, purifying king,
O various-form'd from whom all natures spring;
Propitious hear my pray'r, give blameless health,
With peace divine, and necessary wealth.
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