VERSATILE HONOUR FOR MUSIC'S PATRON
St Cecilia is the patron saint of music. Now, a new anthem to celebrate her life has been written by St Davids Cathedral Organist and Master of the Choristers Alexander Mason, world renowned for his compositional and improvisational talents.
The work has been commissioned by the West Wales area of the Royal School of Church Music, and the idea is for choirs throughout the Diocese of St Davids to learn it and perform it in their own places of worship - church or chapel - on St Cecilia's Day (22nd November).
Versatility is the keynote of the piece: it can be sung in unison or by SATB choir, with some doubling if resources allow.
Alex Mason isn't the first composer to tackle the subject. The text, Cantatibus organis, was used by the late Renaissance composer Orlando di Lasso (also known as Orlandus Lassus, 1532-1594). Perhaps the best-known work in honour of music's patron is Handel's Ode to St Cecilia (a 1736 setting of John Dryden's poem). Other composers who've paid tribute to Cecilia include Alessandro Scarlatti, Henry Purcell, Charles Gounod, Hubert Parry, Herbert Howells and Benjamin Britten.
Most of what we 'know' about Cecilia's life is palbaply legend, or so encrusted with legend that it's difficult to tell fact from fiction. There is even doubt about the dates of her birth and martyrdom: she was beheaded either in Sicily towards the end of the second century or in Rome near the beginning of the third.
The gruesome tale has it that even three attempts by the the executioner to decapitate her failed, whereupon he fled the scene and she survived for three days, and during this time constantly preached and sang praise to God.
The cult of Cecilia flourished in the Middle Ages, and her memory is revered to this day - as witness this up-to-the-minute piece by one of our formeost contemporary composers.
The score of Cantatibus Organis can be downloaded here.
The words are a reference to Cecilia's vow to dedicate her virginity to God (despite her marriage to a Roman called Valerian), and can be translated as:
While the musicians played,
Cecilia the virgin sang in her heart
only to the Lord, saying:
'Lord, let my heart and body
remain without stain, that I be not put to shame.'