A survey of works dedicated to the patroness of musicians including Purcell’s Hail, Bright Cecilia, Handel’s Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, and Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia.
A Song for Saint Cecilia
Saint Cecilia and two Angels Musicians (Photo: Antiveduto Grammatica, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons)
Playlist
Henry Purcell: Hail! Bright Cecilia (1692)
VI. Air and chorus, “Thou tun’st this world below”
Emma Kirkby, soprano
Dame Emma Kirkby, soprano
Taverner Consort/Andrew Parrott
Purcell: Hail! Bright Cecilia
VIII. Air, “Wondrous machine!”
IX. Air, “The airy violin”
X. Duet, “In vain the am’rous flute”
Tomáš Král, baritone
Paul-Antoine Bénos-Dijan, countertenor
Hugo Hymas, tenor
Le Poème Harmonique/Vincent Dumestre
George Frideric Handel: Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, WHV 76
IV. Aria, “What passion cannot Music raise and quell!”
V. Aria and chorus, “The trumpet’s loud clangor”
Lucy Crowe, soprano
Richard Croft, tenor
Niels Wieboldt, cello
Les Musiciens du Louvre/Marc Minkowski
Gerald Finzi: “How smilingly the Saint among her friends” from For St. Cecilia, Op. 30
James Gilchrist, tenor
Bournemouth Symphony Chorus & Orchestra/David Hill
Gabriel Jackson: Cecilia Virgo
Polyphony/Stephen Layton
Benjamin Britten: Hymn to St. Cecilia, Op. 27
Alexander banwell and William Hirtzel, trebles
Andreas Eccles-Wlliams, alto
Ruiari Bowen, tenor
Daniel D’Souza, bass
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge/Stephen Cleobury
