N PRAISE OF MUSIC

Without music life would be a mistake."" For all who agree with Nietzsche, here is a book designed to delight the eye as music is crafted to pleasure the ear. Over seventy-five prints from all eras (not all identified) form the attractive complement to the thoughts, maxims and speculations by philosophers and writers and men of note that make up the text. There are words on the essence and affect of music from such as Confucius, Martin Luther, Plato, Aristotle, Moliere, Goethe, Thoreau, Gerard M. Hopkins, George Bernard Shaw, Boris Pasternak. The composers speak -- Beethoven of his deafness, Mozart of his sole joy, Bach of his faith. The poets are plumbed for appropriate musical allusions of a personal nature -- Shakespeare, Herrick, Marvell, Verlaine, Valery Whitman, Mallarme, Li Po, the psalmists all form a part of the graceful dance to celebrate music's charms. And what music lover would fail to be charmed by William Byrd's ""Reasons briefly set down by the author to persuade everyone to learn to sing""? A natural gift item.