The Musician and Master

Epigram by Paolo Portarelli.

Let Orpheus, Amphion, and the great Arion be celebrated,
Who earned eternal glory through such great deeds.
The first tamed tigers and stilled the waves,
And dared to penetrate the lakes of the underworld original: "tartareas... lacus"; a reference to Orpheus's descent into Hades.
The second moved the rocks of Thebes and built its walls,
So did the lyre original: "testudo," literally "tortoise shell," the material of the first lyres obey the men when struck by their hands.
Proteus was struck with awe; Arion was carried on the back
Of a dolphin, and thus escaped death through the false depths.
You, Peter Pedro Cerone, surpass these men in the art of song; and all the ages
That were in the past, and all those the future shall bring.

Poem by Giovanni Agostino Merula.

Question Harmonies and sweet melodies, and sonorous voices
So well composed, tell me: whose work is this?
Response It is the work of Master PEDRO CERONE; he whom fame has blessed;
He to whom Music has given herself entirely.
Conclusion You shall live forever, for no other is more perfect;
He has brought these monuments to human senses.

Poem by Giorgio Sommariva.

Why do we now complain about the alignment of the stars? Or why
Do we marvel at the sacred songs of the high heavens?
That the stars of Jove are moved by Homeric original: "Maeonios," referring to Maeonia/Homer songs in Phrygian and Lydian modes,
Or that Dorian plectrums assist the foot of Apollo?
This little book of CERONE teaches these things and much better ones;
The Muse Thalia The Muse of comedy and pastoral poetry worships him alone.

A Four-Line Verse by Giovanni Pietro Lingua.

Those who remember the learned Amphion, and whatever the Thracian
Poet Orpheus or the Sage of Samos Pythagoras recorded in song;
These men waste their labor: by the recent virtue of CERONE,
All ancient things shall be surrendered to the waters of Lethe The river of forgetfulness in the underworld.

Poem by Giacinto Gallorubeo.

I would puff out my cheeks in the manner of a herald summoning
An assembly, when the utility of things demands it,
If the pastures, woods, cities, temples, and homes
Did not already resound with your teaching art, CERONE.
Hence songs are poured out around the altars for the gods:
Hence also the banquet table hears the joyful lyres.
With pricked-up ears, Chiron The centaur who tutored Achilles marvels at Achilles,
And perceives therein the sounds he himself once taught.
Indeed, Apollo has set down his cithara and loosened the strings;
He marvels that new modulations can arise.
But who can bring you praises, who can bring rewards?
While you strive to have deserved well of both men and Gods.

---

A dialogue between the Muses and Apollo concerning the Reverend Master PEDRO CERONE, by Giovanni Lomazzo.

Why are you happier than usual, Father? Even when the Python was slain
Your eyes, O Apollo original: "Phoebe", hardly showed you to be such.
Do you perhaps rejoice because you deign to honor PETER
With your whole divinity, your lyre, and your songs?
Then the God replied: I rejoice in this: and so you Muses original: "Camoenae" rejoice,
Since his lyre original: "Chely" continually increases our titles.
Thus I prophesy eternal years for him, truly:
May he inhabit the heavens with a more liberal blessing.

Poem by Pedro Antonio Vives.

The goddess Music had once left the Italian lands,
And whatever is enclosed by the swift Ocean.
Mortals wept, as did the mountains, rivers, woods,
Fields, wild beasts, valleys, and every kind of flock.
As soon as CERONE brought help, all things exult
With laughter: because the Goddess is received back to the soil.
The golden ages of King Saturn rise up,
And once again the earth below is pleasing to those above.

Epigram by Silvano Colonna.

Music had been in the dark; a horrid Labyrinth
Held her, but now the Amphitheater holds her.
Now, behold, she is open to learned men, to the mediocre,
And even to boys: she is no longer in shadows.
These monuments of labor by Cerone are most pleasing;
Whom Spanish piety and love compelled.
CERONE shall live forever: for if the Spanish language
Should fail, there will still be the Latin speech.

Poem by Master Martino Luna.

I am compelled to speak the truth, which no love has driven me
To say; but it grieves me that nothing new could be said.
Yet I shall report these heraldings of our author,
Though I think they have been told by a many-voiced mouth.
Music is either the soul of CERONE, or he is the very
Spirit of Music: or he and Music remain the same thing.

Poem by Giovanni Andrea Negroni.

If it is the glory of the Gods alone to lead the dead
Back from the bottom of the tomb into the upper air:
What has CERONE done, who has revived Music,
While his spirit enters into the stars higher than human genius;
Music, which was consumed by the vice of the ancestors and the teeth of time,
He has restored to her ancient appearance.
But in a better habit: since rising again after death,
She does not fear the second arrows of angry Death.