Was Satan/Lucifer the angel of music before his fall?

Ezekiel 28:13 This is the passage used also by Protestant musicians to allege that Satan was "Head over the Music in Heaven." And we scholars are ever amazed how a vastly a "rumor" can spread throughout Christendom! Someone (novice musician or novice Bible student) can make a statement and it is picked up by others who give no thought to the hermeneutical context of the scripture it is based upon, and it is spread far and wide.

Exposition When we look directly at the verses in question we notice that the person addressed in the chapter is the King of Tyre. (v.1, 11) He is addressed as a man (v.2). He is compared to another man, Daniel. (v.3) He has amassed gold and silver ( which Satan would have no need of, v.4).

*The Garden of Eden is mentioned, symbolically, just like it was in chapter 31:9. It was not referring to Genesis 2 literally.(v.13). Notice that the last half of the verse translated by some as "tabrets and pipes" is translated as "settings and mountings..." in the NIV. This fits in with the list of jewels. {ftnt. "The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.}

Then God (the prophet) described the king in flowing, exalted terminology (which was customary in ancient literature) and called him an anointed Guardian Cherub (v. 14,16). NOT as the "head of music in heaven".

The King of Tyre was "thrown to the ground," but it doesn't say he was thrown from heaven. He was made a spectacle before other kings. This doesn't sound like a Satan being. Then the prophet declared, "I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you." (V.18).

Hermeneutical Deduction There is no way a reasonable expositor could deduce that a Spirit Being (such as Satan) was the Head Musician of Heaven from these verses, and that he was kicked out some time past. (Fall of Satan).

A survey of O.T. scriptures show that Satan had access to heaven up until the time of Christ (Job 1:6, Zech. 3:1). And that it was when Christ came with the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom, evidenced by the "casting out of demons, that Satan fell. (You have to bind the strong-man first, Jesus taught, before you can cast out demons. And Jesus said He "saw Satan fall" when the disciples were out preaching the Gospel (Luke 10:18) in the first century.

The musicians who claim otherwise were too busy playing their lyres, when they should have read the Bible for themselves.

This, also, is not a Catholic answer, but will provide additional supporting evidences. According to E. White, a prolific religious author of the 19th century and the most translated American author (by language count), Lucifer, called Satan after his fall, was the leading cherub, the leader for the angels in heaven, whose duties included being their choir leader.

Clues from Nature

It is quite possible that God had created a special angel with abilities to suit such a leadership position in heaven. We observe in nature that birds have as many as four independent sound sources in their syrinx (look at the wavy orange lines in the illustration HERE), though most, if not joining them on a single note, will use them as two pairs, producing only two different notes at once. Imagine an angel, with much greater intelligence than a bird, that had four (or more) voices and the ability to produce all parts of the harmony at once! God is certainly capable of creating such a being.

Clues from the Bible

Ezekiel 28:13 implies this very thing.

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. (Ezekiel 28:13, KJV)

That this passage cannot actually apply to the human "prince of Tyrus," to whom the message is ostensibly addressed, is plain enough from the facts presented. No human of Ezekiel's era would ever have been in Eden, nor could have been. The Garden of Eden no longer existed on earth at any point past the Flood.

White's Testimony

Of the events taking place immediately after Lucifer's/Satan's fall and expulsion from heaven, White wrote (1870):

Satan stood in amazement at his new condition. His happiness was gone. He looked upon the angels who, with him, were once so happy, but who had been expelled from Heaven with him. Before their fall, not a shade of discontent had marred their perfect bliss. Now all seemed changed. Countenances which had reflected the image of their Maker were gloomy and despairing. Strife, discord, and bitter recrimination, were among them. Previous to their rebellion these things had been unknown in Heaven. Satan now beholds the terrible results of his rebellion. He shuddered, and feared to face the future, and to contemplate the end of these things.

The hour for joyful, happy songs of praise to God and his dear Son had come. Satan had led the heavenly choir. He had raised the first note, then all the angelic host united with him, and glorious strains of music had resounded through Heaven in honor of God and his dear Son. But now, instead of strains of sweetest music, discord and angry words fall upon the ear of the great rebel leader. Where was he? Was it not all a horrible dream? Was he shut out of Heaven? Were the gates of Heaven never more to open and admit him? The hour of worship draws nigh, when bright and holy angels bow before the Father. No more will he unite in heavenly song. No more will he bow in reverence and holy awe before the presence of the eternal God. Could he be again as he was when he was pure, true and loyal, gladly would he yield up the claims of his authority. But he was lost! beyond redemption, for his presumptuous rebellion! And this was not all; he had led others to rebellion and to the same lost condition with himself—angels, who had never thought to question the will of Heaven, or refuse obedience to the law of God till he had put it into their minds, presenting before them that they might enjoy a greater good, a higher and more glorious liberty. This had been the sophistry whereby he had deceived them. A responsibility now rests upon him from which he would fain be released.

Obviously, though he no longer directs heaven's choir, he still has vast musical ability. And he uses the music in combination with the message he wishes to promote. The backmasking for certain musical pieces is incredible--not even a modern computer (ChatGPT?) could likely produce anything like it: whole sentences that, played backwards, result in intelligible whole sentences with a different set of consonants. The world's best poets do not have this skill without supernatural assistance.

This is not necessarily a Catholic answer, but it's the only answer I can provide. The answer, then, is that it is not clearly demonstrable from Scripture (or any popular tradition) that Satan / Lucifer was the angel of music before his fall. Nonetheless, the reason that some people come to this conclusion is likely based upon taking the following passage and applying it to Satan.

Ezekiel 28:13 KJV

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

*Emphasis mine.

There we can see that if this passage, which is typically titled "A Lament over the King of Tyre," if taken as referring Satan metaphorically, can give one reason to think that Satan was the leader of music in heaven. There are more than a few liberal interpretive leaps needed to arrive at such a conclusion; nonetheless, this would be the only passage I can find that would fit such a theory.

Pulpit commentary offers this:

The workmanship of thy tabret and pipes; better, the service. The Authorized Version and Revised Version follow Luther. Keil agrees as to "tabret" (so Genesis 31:27; Isaiah 5:12; elsewhere, as in Exodus 15:20 and Job 21:12, the Authorized Version gives "timbrels"), but takes the latter word (not found elsewhere) as identical with its feminine form, and meaning "female." He sees in the clause, accordingly, a picture of the pomp of the Tyrian king, surrounded by the odalisques of the harem, who, with their timbrels, danced to his honor as their lord and king (camp. Isaiah 23:16; Exodus 15:20; 1 Samuel 18:6).