St. Cecilia Feast DayIdeas
  • afries52afries52
    Posts: 20
    Hi everyone!

    Since this year, St. Cecilia's day does not fall during Thanksgiving week, I was thinking to have some kind of event, be it Vespers, a mini concert of some kind, built in min-lecture, a little celebration after (a little reward for the music ministry), whatever. Catholic church, btw.

    Any ideas of what could be done? And, any music to do? I've seen some suggestions on St. Cecilia related music here on the forum, but not much. Vaughn Williams is a bit out of our humble reach :-)

    Thanks in advance!
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Benjamin Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia?
    Thanked by 1afries52
  • Earl_GreyEarl_Grey
    Posts: 904
    Hymn to St. Cecilia by Proulx (GIA)
    Thanked by 1afries52
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,801
    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.
    Thanked by 1afries52
  • Schönbergian
    Posts: 1,063
    You could perform some compositions by the great Cecilian compos...oh wait.
    Thanked by 2JL afries52
  • OrganistRob320OrganistRob320
    Posts: 164
    A few years ago I led a choral vespers in honor of St. Cecilia. Program is attached.
    Choral Vespers for St. Cecilia.pdf
    583K
    Thanked by 1afries52
  • afries52afries52
    Posts: 20
    Thank you all for your tips!
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    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.

    Giffen-Sing_for_the_mornings_joy-descants.pdf
    99K
    Giffen-Sing_for_the_mornings_joy-snd.mp3
    7M
    Thanked by 2afries52 Incardination
  • OrganistRob320OrganistRob320
    Posts: 164
    Uploaded the Batiste Offertories to IMSLP.
    https://imslp.org/wiki/4_Grand_Offertories_for_St._Cecilia%2C_Opp.7-10_(Batiste%2C_Edouard)
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    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/
Add a Comment