Orphic Hymn to Jupiter

by Traditional poetry with original music by Kimberly Steele

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

Purchasable with gift card

name your price

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.

FREE PDF MUSIC: kimberlysteelemusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Orphic_Hymn_to_Jupiter.pdf.zip

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.

credits

released February 21, 2020

license

some rights reserved

about

Kimberly Steele Chicago, Illinois

Kimberly Steele (Queenie) is a composer, music teacher, and blogger who lives with her husband in the far west suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

queeniesongs.net

contact / help

Contact Kimberly Steele

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Orphic Hymn to Jupiter, you may also like:

Anxiety / Hope
by Ambient Echoes

The aptly named “Ambient Echoes” features electroacoustic songs that gradually build from steady drones to breathtaking melodies. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 4, 2023
go to album
Misty Memories
by From Overseas & City of Dawn

Tape and guitar loops combine to create mesmerizing atmospherics, like watching the Northern Lights ripple in the sky. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 16, 2022
go to album
chamomile
by marine eyes

From the always-excellent label Past Inside the Present comes this stunning work of sustained tone and timbre. Gorgeous. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 1, 2022
go to album
Vines
by Damiana

The ambient duo consisting of TALsound’s Natalie Chami and Matchess’ Whitney Johnson blurs the lines between analog and electronic. Bandcamp Album of the Day Jul 22, 2021
go to album
Factory Reset
by David Gerard

David Gerard’s latest collection of ethereal ambient music contains songs so ghostly, they’re just hushed, eerie wisps of sound. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 2, 2020
go to album
The limitless sweet love of precious suffering
by Blessed are the Hearts that Bend

This UK group made field recordings in warehouses, parks, and decommissioned power plants, morphing the results into haunting ambient music. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 27, 2020
go to album
The Sky Opens
by Steve Roach

Electronic pioneer Steve Roach is at his finest on this 11-track live record, recorded as part of the celebrated Ambient Church series. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 24, 2020
go to album