Benjamin Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia?

For a cappella works you'd do well to start with CPDL's Category:St. Cecilia. A number of years ago we matched Britten with Purcell's 1692 Ode (Z 328, "Hail, bright Cecilia!", one of 3 or 4 St. Cecilia Day odes) and Lou Harrison's Mass in Honor of St. Cecilia, a chant composition with optional instrumental drones and obligati. Handel's Ode for St. Cecilia's Day is also worthwhile, as are Charpentier's Historiae H.394, H.397, H.413 & H.415.

A few years ago I led a choral vespers in honor of St. Cecilia. Program is attached.

In another thread there is my "concert" setting for chorus & chamber orchestra (SATB, flute, English horn, bassoon, French horn, trombone, harp, and strings) of "A Hymn for St Cecilia", which evolved from the original setting of the hymn to my hymn tune GLOUCESTER CRESCENT.

Here is the original SATB hymn setting, with the S1 & T1 final verse descants (from the "concert setting" above), with organ accompaniment. Optionally, the descants may be taken by instruments such as flute (or oboe) and French horn. There is also an optional "bridge" (interlude) between stanzas (drawn from the "concert version") included in the PDF score. The MP3 sound file simulates choir & organ on the first stanza, bridge, a cappella choir on the second stanza, bridge, and choir (with descants) & organ on the final stanza. Normally, I would have S2, A, T2, B sing the melody on the final stanza if using the S1-T1 descants.

Some ideas here for next year!

https://schola-sainte-cecile.com/2019/11/23/programme-de-la-solennite-de-sainte-cecile-vierge-martyre-patronne-de-la-paroisse-de-notre-schola-des-musiciens-4/