Songs

If music be the food of love

by Henry Purcell

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Text

If music be the food of love
English source: Henry Heveningham

If music be the food of love,
Sing on till I am fill’d with joy;
For then my list’ning soul you move
To pleasures that can never cloy.
Your eyes, your mien, your tongue declare
That you are music ev’rywhere.

Pleasures invade both eye and ear,
So fierce the transports are, they wound,
And all my senses feasted are,
Tho’ yet the treat is only sound,
Sure I must perish by your charms,
Unless you save me in your arms.

The first line quotes Orsino's lines in Twelfth Night

Composer

Henry Purcell

Henry Purcell (c. 10 September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. It is said that he began composing at nine years old. As an adult, he became organist at Westminster Abbey, and later the Chapel Royal. Information from Wikipedia. For…

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