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ST CAECILIA (ST CECILIA) - LIST OF MUSIC IN HER HONOUR

(At the bottom of the list, please select where shown either PREVIOUS or NEXT to go to next or previous page of the list)

The following is a list of musical works, which are examples of those written to the glory of St Cecilia (St Caecilia) from around 600 AD until the present day. It should be noted where, in the list, alternative spellings of composers’ surnames are provided, where this applies, this is to facilitate search engines accessing this page:

Year of
Composition

 Composer Title of Work Comments   Recording Sample
1862 Schöpf, Franz (or Schopf or Schoepf) Caecili-Messe The date of composition is a guess, based on the fact that this was the year the composer was the joint founder of the St Cecilia’s Society in Gries, Austria and also the fact that it is his Opus 60. The location of this society was later transferred to Bozen where the composer was organist. He studied organ with Franz Überbacher in Lengmoos (Longomoso/Lengmoos). Franz Schöpf lived from 1836 to 1915. The work of the St Caecilia’s society was continued by Heinrich Schöpf, Franz’s eldest son in Bregenz and also in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. There are other works honouring St Cecilia by other composers in the St Cecilia’s Society, however the information surrounding this is somewhat scant.  
1874 Liszt, Franz Sainte Cécile. Légende This work is based on a Gregorian antiphonal melody, which however is not even once heard in its entirety. It was inspired by Raffaello’s painting. It is one of Liszt’s most poetic works. The work is in three sections and is dedicated to the Hungarian Haynaold, the Archbishop of Kalocsa, who, however, did not promote its première. It was first performed in Weimar on June 15, 1875.   Listen to recording extract on this website - click here to access
1879 Liszt, Franz Cantantibus Organis  
1885 Liszt, Franz Sancta Caecilia Approx Year of Composition  
1889 Parry, Charles Hubert Hastings Ode on St Cecilia’s Day  
1907 Elgar, Sir Edward Partsongs (4) for chorus, Op. 53: There is Sweet Music Here  
1934 Refice, Licinio Cecilia This is an example of an opera written in honour of Saint Caecilia in more modern times.  
1941 Andrews Sisters The Shrine of St. Cecilia This demonstrates that music glorifying Saint Caecilia does not only come from the classical side of music, but also from what we now describe as popular music as well.  
1942 Britten, Benjamin Hymn to St. Cecilia This is a setting of a poem by W. H. Auden written between 1940 and 1942. Auden’s original title was $ldquo;Three Songs for St. Cecilia’s Day”, and he later published the poem as “Anthem for St. Cecilia’s Day (for Benjamin Britten)”. For a long time Britten wanted to write a piece dedicated to St Cecilia for a number of reasons. Firstly, he was born on St Cecilia’s day; secondly, St Cecilia is the patron saint of music; and finally, there is a long tradition in England of writing odes and songs to St Cecilia. The most famous of these are by John Dryden (“A song for St. Cecilia’s Day” 1687) and musical works by Henry Purcell, Hubert Parry, and George Frideric Handel. Another briefer work by Herbert Howells has the similar title A Hymn for St Cecilia, but was written later in 1960. The first extant reference to Britten’s desire to write such a work is from 1935 when Britten wrote in his diary “I’m having great difficulty in finding Latin words for a proposed Hymn to St Cecilia. Spend morning hunting.” Britten first met Auden later that year, and subsequently worked with him on a number of large-scale works, including the operetta Paul Bunyan (1941). Britten asked that Auden provide him a text for his ode to St Cecilia, and Auden complied, sending the poem in sections throughout 1940, along with advice on how Britten could be a better artist. This was to be one of the last works they collaborated on. According to Britten’s partner Peter Pears in 1980 “Ben was on a different track now, and he was no longer prepared to be dominated - bullied - by Wystan, whose musical feeling he was very well aware of. ...Perhaps he may have been said to have said goodbye to working with Wystan with his marvelous setting of the Hymn (Anthem) to St. Cecilia.” Britten began setting Hymn to St. Cecilia in the United States, certainly in June 1941 when a performance by the newly formed Elizabethan Singers was projected to take place in New York sometime later that year. In 1942 (the midst of World War II) Britten and Pears decided to return home to England. The customs inspectors confiscated all of Britten’s manuscripts, fearing they could be some type of code. Britten re-wrote the manuscript while aboard the MS Axel Johnson, and finished it on 2 April 1942. It was written at the same time as A Ceremony of Carols, which shares the same affect. The text itself follows in the tradition of odes, including an invocation to the muse: “Blessed Cecilia/Appear in visions to all musicians/Appear and inspire”. Britten uses this as a refrain throughout piece, whereas it is the last portion of Auden’s first section. The piece is in three sections, plus three iterations of the refrain, with slight variations, following each section. The first section is very similar to the refrain, couched in the E Phrygian scale and with the same melody. The second section is a scherzo with a modified fugue form. The third section is more lyrical, with solos in each voice describing a different instrument, traditional in odes to St. Cecilia. The hymn was given its first (radio) performance in 1942.   Listen to recording extract on this website - click here to access
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The above list is not guaranteed to be complete and if you know of any works which you feel should be included in addition to the above, please click here to contact us to let us know and we will add them to the list.

Note that the navigation at the right (Return to Site Previously Viewed) is for use ONLY when you have entered this site from Caecilian Enterprises Pty Limited and its related sites or the site for the Godfrey family and it will close this window and take you back to the page on Caecilian Enterprises Pty Limited and its related sites or the Godfrey family site which you were most recently browsing. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE OTHER WINDOWS OR TABS OPEN FROM THE SITES JUST MENTIONED, IT WILL NOT FUNCTION. If you wish to go to the Caecilian Enterprises site and you have not come directly from it and its related sites, then you should use the Caecilian image navigation at the right.

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Version 1.6 November 17, 2018