Her silver sound

Anonymous (probably Richard Edwardes, 1525 - 1566): Where griping grief. Two versions:
– as a song for 1 voice (soprano) and lute: Emma Kirkby and Anthony Rooley.
– as a partsong for 4 voices: the Deller Consort.

Where griping grief the heart would wound
 And doleful dumps the mind oppress,
There music with her silver sound
 Is wont with speed to give redress
Of troubled minds, for ev’ry sore,
 Sweet music hath a salve in store.

In joy it makes our mirth abound,
 In grief it cheers our heavy sprites,
The careful head relief hath found,
 By music’s pleasant sweet delights;
Our senses, what should I say more,
 Are subject unto Music’s law.

The gods by music have their praise,
 The soul therein doth joy;
For as the Roman poets say,
 In seas whom pirates would destroy,
A dolphin saved from death most sharp,
 Arion playing on his harp.

O heavenly gift, that turns the mind,
 Like as the stern doth rule the ship,
Of music whom the gods assigned,
 To comfort man whom cares would nip,
Since thou both man and beast doth move,
 What wise man then will thee reprove.

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Richard Edwardes, possibly an illegitimate son of Henry VIII, was a poet, playwright, gentleman of the Chapel Royal and choirmaster of the same institution in the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth I. In his later years he compiled an extensive anthology of poems by various authors, adding his own, including Where griping grief (under the title In commendation of Musick). The anthology, titled The Paradise of Dainty Devices, appeared posthumously in 1576, edited by Henry Disle; it was the most successful of the numerous miscellaneous books printed at the end of the sixteenth century: it was in fact reprinted nine times in the following thirty years.

There are, even on the Internet, many variants of Where griping grief, almost all of little importance, such as for example «When… Then…» instead of «Where… There…» in the first line; but the «Anon» which often replaces «Arion» at the beginning of the last line of the third stanza is clearly a mistake: Edwardes in fact refers to Arion of Methymna, a kitharode in ancient Greece credited with inventing the dithyramb: according to the myth, Arion was saved from certain death at sea by being carried ashore by a dolphin that he had enchanted with his own singing.

The two manuscript sources that have handed down the music of Where griping grief (the Mulliner Book, a collection of pieces for keyboard instrument dating between about 1550 and 1585; and the Brogyntyn Lute Book, c1595) do not bear neither the text nor the name of the composer: the music is thought to be probably by Edwardes himself. Where griping grief has a finely chiseled tune; though proceeding mainly in joint degrees, it has several larger intervals, including an unusual (at that time) diminished octave — to the words «dumps the» in the second line of the first stanza.

Where griping grief must have been quite well known in Shakespeare’s time, so much so that its first stanza is quoted in a scene from Romeo and Juliet, at the end of the fourth act, after the Nurse has found the lifeless body of the young Capulet and a gloomy unexpected pain torments his relatives; the news also saddens some musicians, who had been summoned to cheer Juliet’s wedding party: they are putting away their instruments before leaving when Peter (the Nurse’s servant) asks them to play for him; since the musicians have no intention of pleasing him, Peter begins to argue with them and finally, quoting Where griping grief, finds a way to insult them.

PETER

Answer me like men.
(sings)
 When griping grief the heart doth wound
 And doleful dumps the mind oppress,
 Then Music with her silver sound—
Why «silver sound»? Why «Music with her silver sound»? What say you, Simon Catling?

FIRST MUSICIAN

Marry, sir, because silver hath a sweet sound.

PETER

Prates. What say you, Hugh Rebeck?

SECOND MUSICIAN

I say, «silver sound» because musicians sound for silver.

PETER

Prates too. What say you, James Soundpost?

THIRD MUSICIAN

Faith, I know not what to say.

PETER

Oh, I cry you mercy, you are the singer. I will say for you. It is «Music with her silver sound» because musicians have no gold for sounding.
(sings)
 Then Music with her silver sound
 With speedy help doth lend redress.
(exit)