Rosemary and Pansies/Bach's Second Concerto
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BACH'S SECOND CONCERTO[1]
What fresh and breezy joyousness is here,
What youthful spirit, what rapture of delight,
What scorn of baseness, what contempt of fear!
How doth it put all sombre thoughts to flight!
Once more the world is full of old romance,
Once more the jarring keys are all in tune,
Once more in woodland scenes the fairies dance,
And desolate winter turns to glorious June!
Ah! could man's life to such a tune be set,
Its dull beat changed for these exultant strains,
What room were there for sorrow or regret,
Or who could doubt that God exists and reigns! . . .
What youthful spirit, what rapture of delight,
What scorn of baseness, what contempt of fear!
How doth it put all sombre thoughts to flight!
Once more the world is full of old romance,
Once more the jarring keys are all in tune,
Once more in woodland scenes the fairies dance,
And desolate winter turns to glorious June!
Ah! could man's life to such a tune be set,
Its dull beat changed for these exultant strains,
What room were there for sorrow or regret,
Or who could doubt that God exists and reigns! . . .
The music dies—and I am sad again,
But with a tenderer grief, a milder pain.
But with a tenderer grief, a milder pain.
- ↑ This Concerto belongs to a set written at Coethen in 1721 for the Margraf of Brandenburgh, and known consequently as "The Brandenburgh Concertos."