Music . . . forever
from the University Librarian

Missa pro defunctis, unknown composer. Rome, 1739. The first music manuscript given to Georgetown's Special Collections by Dr. Leon Robbin.

The University and the Library lost a dear friend with the death on May 22 of Leon Robbin, L'22, Honoris Causa 1997 (see related article this issue). Dr. Robbin's lifelong love of music led him to collect manuscripts, letters and other memorabilia of famous classical composers. He gave many of these to the Special Collections Division of the Lauinger Library, and also provided a large endowment that permits us to purchase some wonderful musical items. Recently, for example, we obtained the original manuscript to Olga, an unfinished opera by Amilcare Ponchielli, the composer of La Gioconda. The purchase was especially engaging to us because Olga is the name of Dr. Robbin's wife.

Dr. Robbin was fortunate in being able to live a long and full life, enriched with the pleasures of music. He was an avid listener and appreciator and enjoyed learning about music from many sources. He was fond of quoting Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) as saying, "Music gives back what life takes away," or as is sometimes translated, "What life takes away, music returns."

So many poets and writers have extolled the virtues of music that there are pages and pages of aphorisms reflecting the role that music plays in life. Sometimes these expressions are derivatives of each other; sometimes translations from the original into English take liberty with the thought; and sometimes, as with variant editions of books, the texts themselves are altered. Who has not heard, for example, that "Music hath charms…"--but which version do you know?

Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
--William Congreve 1670-1729, The Mourning Bride

or . . .

Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast,
And therefore proper at a sheriff 's feast.
--Rev. James Bramston 1694-1744, A Man of Taste

Could this phrase have been known to English poet Matthew Prior (1664-1721)? He wrote,

Music's force can tame the furious beast.

Shakespeare in Twelfth Night, c. 1601, wrote,

If music be the food of love, play on. . .

But Thomas D'Urfey in 1661 reputedly wrote,

If music be the food of love,
Sing on, sing on, sing on!

Music is:

"… the shorthand of emotion" --Leo Tolstoy, 1828-1910
"… the universal language of mankind" --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882
"… the poetry of the air" --Jean Paul Richter, 1763-1825
"… one of the fairest and most glorious gifts of God" --Martin Luther, 1483-1546

Leon Robbin would have agreed, no doubt, with Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), who wrote,

Music is well said to be the speech of angels.

and with Cervantes (1547-1616):

Where there is music there can be no evil.

Dr. Robbin's gift to Georgetown University assures that we will have music forever; we wish for him the same. Requiescat in pace.