Orphic Hymn To Mercury

by Traditional poetry with original music by Kimberly Steele

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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. I started with this tune, the Ode to Hermes (Roman Mercury). Below is a link to the free sheet music to this hymn. It is free, but if you feel like you need to buy it, the second link is to my sheet music store where you can pay a nominal fee to get the sheet music and I'll get a small commission when you buy it:

kimberlysteelemusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Orphic_Hymn_to_Hermes.pdf.zip

www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/orphic-hymn-to-hermes-for-guitar-ancient-greek-poem-set-to-music-digital-sheet-music/21678921?ac=1

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

Hermes, draw near, and to my pray'r incline,
Angel of Jove and Maia's son divine;
Studious of contests, ruler of mankind,
With heart almighty, and a prudent mind.
Celestial messenger, of various skill,
Whose pow'rful arts could watchful Argus kill:
With winged feet, 'tis thine thro' air to course,
O friend of man, and prophet of discourse:
Great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine,
In arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine:
With pow'r endu'd all language to explain,
Of care the loos'ner, and the source of gain.
Whose hand contains of blameless peace the rod,
Corucian, blessed, profitable God;
Of various speech, whose aid in works we find,
And in necessities to mortals kind:
Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere,
Be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear;
Assist my works, conclude my life with peace,
Give graceful speech, and me memory's increase.

credits

released February 17, 2020
Translation by Thomas Taylor

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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

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