With a Pretty Ding, Dong, Bell
“This has a very pretty madrigalian ‘Ding, dong, bell’ ending.”
~ Emily Daymond, 77
At 15 Hubert tried his hand at straight
Poetic madrigal, a Shakespeare song,
In “Tell Me, Where is Fancy Bred?” The gate
Of fancy is our eyes and where they long
To settle and to gaze. The strictest heart
Of music is the madrigal, through two
Or more carved voices. Singing in each part
Is all controlled by soul. Each voice in cue
With words must seek emotions of each line,
Indeed of every term. The voice is led
By feeling in the written phrase. Design
Flows like a channelled stream, though, from the head.
The mathematic mind inside the boy
Brought forth phrased feelings through this singing toy.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
“Tell Me Where Is Fancy Bred”
(From “The Merchant of Venice”)
Tell me where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
Reply, reply.
It is engender’d in the eyes,
With gazing fed; and fancy dies
In the cradle, where it lies.
Let us all ring fancy’s knell;
I’ll begin it – Ding, dong, bell.
Ding, dong, bell.