Author: WEBB (Daniel):
Title: Observations on the Correspondence between Poetry and Music.
Description: London, Printed for J. Dodsley..., 1769 FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 176 x 104 mms., pp. [iv], v - vii [viii blank], 155 [156 blank, 157 - 160 adverts], including half-title, recently rebound in half calf, morocco label, marbled boards; two very small holes in title-page, but a very good copy. In a long review of the November, 1769, issue of The Monthly Review, the reviewer commented that "Upon the whole, this little work contains many particulars equally curious, useful, and new...." Webb's emphasis in the other two works is more on description than on theory, and in the Observations, he argues that certain clusters of sounds can be observed to produce certain affections and moods. His association of certain sounds with specific physiological states is reminiscent of the work of David Hartley, as well as that of Levesque de Pouilly. Music and poetry can give rise to the same passions and therefore the aesthetic impulses which call them forth are more-or-less identical, or at least the role of the imagination in apprehending them makes them seem identical. Yet there are passions, e. g., shame, for which there are no musical correlations. Music may thus have charms to soothe the savage breast, but it is incapable of producing unattractive or vicious passions; it counteracts extremes of passions and helps them mutate into virtues.

Keywords: poetry music prose


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