All creation is musical--all nature speaks the language of song.
'There's music in the sighing of a reed,
There's music in the gushing of a rill;
There's music in _all things_, if man had ears;
The _earth_ is but an _echo_ of the spheres.'
And who is not moved by music? "Who ever despises music," says Martin
Luther, "I am displeased with him."
'There is a charm--a power that sways the breast,
Bids every passion revel, or be still;
Inspires with rage, or all our cares dissolves;
Can soothe _destruction_, and _almost soothes despair_.'
That music is capable of accomplishing vast good, and that it is a
source of the most elevated and refined enjoyment when rightly
cultivated and practiced, no one who understands its power or has
observed its effects, will for a moment deny.
'Thou, O music! canst assuage the pain and heal the wound
That hath defied the skill of sager comforters;
Thou dost restrain each wild emotion,
Thou dost the rage of fiercest passions chill,
Or lightest up the flames of holy fire,
As through the soul thy strains harmonious thrill.
Who does not desire to see the day when music in this country,
_cultivated and practised by_ ALL--music of a chaste, refined and
elevated style, shall go forth with its angel voice, like a spirit of
love upon the wind, exerting upon all classes of society a rich and
healthful moral influence. When its wonderful power shall be made to
subserve every righteous cause--to aid every humane effort for the
promotion of man's social, civil and religious well-being.
It has been observed by travellers, that after a short residence in
almost any of the cities of the eastern world, one would fancy "every
second person a musician." During the night, the streets of these
cities, particularly Rome, the capitol of Italy, are filled with all
sorts of minstrelsy, and the ear is agreeably greeted with a perpetual
confluence of sweet sounds. A Scotch traveller, in passing through one
of the most delightful villas of Rome, overheard a stonemason chanting
something in a strain of peculiar melancholy; and on inquiry,
ascertained it to be the "_Lament of Tasso_." He soon learned that
this celebrated piece was familiar to all the common people. Torquato
Tasso was an Italian poet of great merit, who was for many years
deprived of liberty, and subjected to severe trials and misfortunes by
the jealousy and cruelty of his patron, the Duke of Ferrara. That
master-piece of music, so justly admired and so much sung by the high
and low throughout all Italy, had its origin in the wrongs of Tasso.
An ardent love of humanity--a deep consciousness of the injustice of
slavery--a heart full of sympathy for the oppressed, and a due
appreciation of the blessings of freedom, has given birth to the
poetry comprising this volume. I have long desired to see these
sentiments of love, of sympathy, of justice and humanity, so
beautifully expressed in poetic measure, embalmed in sweet music; so
that _all the people_--the rich, the poor, the young, and the old, who
have hearts to feel, and tongues to move, may sing of the wrongs of
slavery, and the blessings of liberty, until every human being shall
recognise in his fellow an _equal_;--"a MAN and a BROTHER." Until by
familiarity with these sentiments, and their influence upon their
_hearts_, _the people_, whose _duty it is_, shall "undo the heavy
burdens and let the oppressed go free."
I announced, sometime since, my intention of publishing such a work.
Many have been impatiently waiting its appearance. I should have been
glad to have issued it and scattered it like leaves of the forest over
the land, long ago, but circumstances which I could not control, have
prevented. I purpose to enlarge the work from time to time, as
circumstances may require.
Let associations of singers, having the love of liberty in their
hearts, be immediately formed in every community. Let them study
thoroughly, and make themselves perfectly familiar with both the
poetry and the music, and enter into the _sentiment_ of the piece they
perform, that they may _impress it_ upon their hearers. Above all
things, let the enunciation of every word be _clear_ and _distinct_.
Most of the singing of the present day, is entirely too artificial,
stiff and mechanical. It should be easy and natural; flowing directly
from the soul of the performer, without affectation or display; and
then singing will answer its true end, and not only please the _ear_,
but affect and improve the _heart_.
To the true friends of universal freedom, the LIBERTY MINSTREL is
respectfully dedicated.