ST CAECILIA - MUSIC AND VERSE IN HER HONOUR

We hope you will find the information interesting on this section of the site and it is provided for those who wish to delve into the background of St Cecilia, after whom Caecilian Enterprises Pty Limited, the owner of this site, is named. The links for a list of music honouring St Cecilia, sample extract recordings of some of the works in that list and also a page explaining about poetry (verse) about St Cecilia are provided below. It should be noted that, in this section of this site, Cecilia instead of Caecilia has been used as the spelling. Both are in common usage, however Caecilia with an "a" as its second letter is the original Latin spelling.

"November 22nd, being St Cecilia's Day, is observed through all Europe and also in other parts of the world by lovers of music. On that day, or the next when it falls on a Sunday, as an example, meet at Stationer's Hall in London. Entertainment of the highest order is provided and before it always a performance of music by the best vocal and instrumental musicians in town, this music always being in praise of St Cecilia."

This scenario above was typical of the type of celebrations carried on in London from 1683 for the next 20 years or so. Of course, other celebrations are observed nowadays and were observed in between.

The earliest recorded observance of the festival of St Cecilia appears to have been in 1570 at Evreux in Normandy, where, each year, prizes were offered for special works in honour of the saint, and the leading composers of the day took part, including Orlando di Lasso (one of his works is mentioned in the list of works, accessible by the link below, of examples of works from that time, which have been written for the glory of St Cecilia).

Below shows information for a concert to take place at St Gabriel’s Pimlico (area of London UK) at 7.00 pm local time on November 22, 2024. It is titled St Cecilia's Day Concert and is a celebration of choral music by Elgar, Parry, Howells and the London première of Roxanna Panufnik’s ‘Elegy for Fadima’

Please click here to access the site from where this photo has been procured.