Hail, Bright Cecilia, Z.328
Hail! Bright Cecilia (Z. 328), also known as Ode to St. Cecilia, was composed by Henry Purcell to a text by the Irishman Nicholas Brady in 1692 in honour of the feast day of Saint Cecilia, patron saint of musicians.
Annual celebrations of this saint's feast day (22 November) began in 1683, organised by the Musical Society of London, a group of musicians and music lovers. Welcome to all the pleasures (Z. 339) was written by Purcell in 1683 and he went on to write other Cecilian pieces of which Hail! Bright Cecilia remains the best known. The first performance on 22 September 1692 at Stationers' Hall was a great success, and received an encore.
Movements
- Symphony
- “Hail! Bright Cecilia”
- “Hark! Hark! Each tree its silence breaks”
- “’Tis nature’s voice”
- “Soul of the world”
- “Thou tun’st this world”
- “With that sublime celestial lay”
- “Wondrous machine!”
- “The airy violin”
- “In vain the am’rous flute”
- “The fife and all the harmony of war”
- “Let these amongst themselves contest”
- “Hail! Bright Cecilia, hail to thee”
Recommended recordings
- Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists · John Eliot Gardiner YouTubeSpotify (subscription)
- Collegium Vocale Gent · Philippe Herreweghe YouTubeSpotify (subscription)