A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Ode

ODE (Gr. ᾠδή, from ἀείδω, I sing). A form of poetry which, both in its origin and in its later forms, has been peculiarly adapted for musical expression; in fact, the words of the earliest odes were probably written to fit music already existing. The form which has been most frequently and successfully set to music in modern times is that of the Greek odes, in which the rhythm and metre are constantly changing, thus giving great scope for variety of treatment. Modern instances of this kind of odes are Milton's 'L'Allegro' and 'Il Penseroso,' Dryden's 'Ode on St. Cecilia's Day,' Gray's 'Bard' and 'Progress of Poesy,' Collins's 'Ode to the Passions,' Wordsworth's 'Ode on Intimations of Immortality,' and Shelley's odes. Another form of ode is where the metre of the verses remains the same, as in the odes of Horace, Milton's 'Ode on the Nativity,' etc. To this class belongs Schiller's 'Ode to Joy,' used by Beethoven in the 9th Symphony. Of musical settings of odes the following are the most important, besides those already mentioned:—Handel's four odes, a list of which is given in the catalogue of his works (see Handel, vol. i. p. 657a); Purcell's 'Odes and Welcome Songs,' 28 in number, many of which are still in MS.; in later times, Sir W. Sterndale Bennett's setting of Tennyson's 'Ode for the opening of the International Exhibition of 1862.' Most of these compositions are for chorus and orchestra, and in many there are solos or semichoruses interspersed, representing the Strophe and Antistrophe of the classic chorus.

[ J. A. F. M. ]