Love’s conquest by the Duke of Burgundy

What if music be the food of love? This is the question which arises in our mind when we think about love and its importance. Music is the language of feelings, the heart’s desire, the language of joy and longing. This food is indeed sweet; it has all the ingredients for a wonderful soup: It has got all the flavours that make it melt in our mouth; it has got the body heat which keeps it alive; it has got the fresh spices which make it fly to the top! This is the kind of food which should be given to our beloved’s, who seem not to enjoy being served plain rice every day!

If music be the food of lust – then there will be lust also, and it will run as deep under rocks as the waters of Taurus; there will be rivers of desire, swollen as with a lazy river, which will flow uncontrolled over the bed of our passions. And there will be, in that seductive sleep, a whole army of amorous and sexy dream Fantasies, whose arrow-like flight through our minds would lead them through the dark valley of desires, into the door of a celestial kingdom where music is the food. It is not so sweet now as it was before; nor is it so fresh and living, though it has the power to change our nature and our lives.

The desire may sicken, and so die, the appetite may quench: The desire may sulk, for lack of food; but this time, it will burst, like dumplings in the sea, into little shells, which will rise again, and swarm upon the shores of heaven. Now if music be the food of love, it will be sweet and alive, and will fill the soul with the gladness of earth, which is full of all the fruits of music, which make up the soul of earth. And if music be the food of love it will be alive and sweet, and will give delight to the spirit, which is full of delight. It will be a presence in our dreams, a voice in the head, an image in the mind – which makes all things beautiful, because it is the nature of all things. Music will be sweet and alive, and we will know that its presence is full of ecstasy, for it is full of joy and ecstasy.

O my beloved: if music be the food of love; if it give me excess of it, which, in abundance, I need; if it give me excesses of pleasure, which will feed my need; if it give me excesses of friendship, which will give me security; if it give me excesses of beauty, which will give me delight; if it give me excesses of strength, which will support me when I am down; if it give me excesses of wit, which will brighten my life; if it give me excesses of intelligence, which will enable me to know the happiness of others; if it give me excesses of thought, which will enable me to enjoy the thought of others; if it give me excesses of strength, which will support me when I am faint; if it give me excesses of courage, which will give me the courage to endure; if it give me excesses of intelligence, which will enable me to enjoy the knowledge of others; if it give me excesses of power, which will support me when I am weak; if it give me excesses of grace, which will give me the grace to sail through life upon the sea of affliction. Then, O my beloved, I will give you the answer. I will say: Take me with you. Take me in your arms, my love.

Now, as regards the twelve nights of the twelfth night casino: The duke goes to bed early in the morning. When the duke is ready to rise, he goes to where the lady of the house is. The duke sees her standing there in the passage, alone, in the same old costume she has been wearing on the previous nights.