Introductory material
Reading edition
Music is the universal language of mankind.
—Longfellow.
Music can noble hints impart, Engender fury, kindle love; With unsuspected eloquence can move And manage all the man with secret art.
—Addison.
Music is the sound of the circulation in nature's veins. It is the flux which melts nature. Men dance to it, glasses ring and vibrate, and the fields seem to undulate. The healthy ear always hears it, nearer or more remote.
—Thoreau.
To strike all this life dead, Run mercury into a mold like lead, And henceforth have the plain result to show— How we Feel hard and fast, and what we Know— This were the prize, and is the puzzle!—which Music essays to solve.
—Browning.
All music is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments.
—Whitman.