Patroness of Musicians
Cecilia's musical fame rests on a passing notice in her legend that she was beheaded and at the same time praised God, singing to Him, as she lay dying a martyr's death. She is frequently depicted playing an organ or other musical instrument. Musical societies and conservatories frequently have been named for St. Cecilia. Her feast day became an occasion for musical concerts and festivals that occasioned well-known poems by John Dryden and Alexander Pope, and music by Henry Purcell (Ode to St. Cecilia), George Frideric Handel (Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, Alexander's Feast), Charles Gounod (Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cecile} and Benjamin Britten, who was born on her feast day, (Hymn to St. Cecilia), as well as Herbert Howells with text from a poem by W. H. Auden. Gerald Finzi's "For Saint Cecilia", Op. 30, was set to verses written by Edmund Blunden, and Frederik Magle's Cantata to Saint Cecilia is based on the history of Cecilia.
Read more about this topic: Saint Cecilia
Famous quotes containing the word musicians:
“As if the musicians did not so much play the little phrase as execute the rites required by it to appear, and they proceeded to the necessary incantations to obtain and prolong for a few instants the miracle of its evocation, Swann, who could no more see the phrase than if it belonged to an ultraviolet world ... Swann felt it as a presence, as a protective goddess and a confidante to his love, who to arrive to him ... had clothed the disguise of this sonorous appearance.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)