Posted by John Rasmussen on December 20, 19102 at 14:49:46:

In Reply to: question posted by evincent on December 13, 19102 at 09:56:44:

That's a quote of Psalm 137:2: "We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof." I can think of two things Purcell might have meant: Either that musicians of his day were doing less and less music, or that they were writing and playing only mournful music. (Psalm 137 was written during the Jew's captivity in Babylon.)

But don't take my word for this; I'm not a strong Purcell scholar, although I love his music.

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