Ode On St. Cecilia's Day 1692 (PURCELL HENRY)

SKU: CA.1025000

ISBN 9790007251826. Key: D major. English.

â??Hail! bright Cecilia, hail to thee. Great patroness of us and harmony!â? â?? this exclamation opens the final chorus of Henry Purcellâ??s eponymous Ode to St. Cecilia from 1692. A paean to the power of music, the work is one of the undoubted masterpieces of English choral odes of that time. A resolution of the Musical Society of London in 1683 launched the great tradition of annual celebrations for St. Ceciliaâ??s Day (November 22), featuring a church service followed by performances of specially composed music. Over the years, Purcell wrote several odes for the occasion, of which this example from 1692 is one of the most popular. Four decades later, Handel would also contribute to the celebrations with his Alexanderâ??s Feast, HWV 75 (Carus 55.075), and his Ode for St. Ceciliaâ??s Day, HWV 76 (Carus 55.076).Purcellâ??s magnificent music, which features a huge range of tonal color and form, offers delightful parts for a variety of solo, ensemble, and choral settings. With its richly expressive palette, the Ode to St. Cecilia is an extremely rewarding work by the â??Orpheus Britannicusâ?, as Purcell was admiringly called by contemporaries.- Festive, rousing ode to music- Highlight of the choral ode genre in the 17th century

SKU: BR.EOS-8063-26

ISBN 9790004789810. 8.5 x 11.5 inches.

The Ode was admirably set by Mr. Henry Purcell, and performed twice with universal applause.
(The Gentlemen's Journal, 1692)

The popularity of Purcell's setting is apparent from the many sources that survive and from the printed extracts which appeared almost immediately after its first performance. The primary source for this edition is the largely autograph manuscript in the Bodleian Library. Rather to reduce the orthography to a norm, the capitalization of the vocal text favours Purcell's preferences.
(Christopher Hogwood) Vokalensemble Stuttgart und den Kammerchor des Kopernikus-Gymnasiums Wasseralfingen. Fur diese beiden ganz unterschiedlichen Chorformationen hat Martin Smolka 2012 auch gezielt seine Partitur angelegt. Biografisch ist das Agnus Dei eine Art kleines Requiem fur seinen kurz zuvor verstorbenen Vater. Das liturgische Agnus Dei rahmt den deutschen Text Eh das Madchen entschlief ... der bei Auffuhrungen in anderen Landern durch eine Ubersetzung ersetzt werden soll.

Der SWR-Redakteur Hans-Peter Jahn schreibt dazu im Programmheft: Die fur Smolka typischen minimalistischen Taktzellen schaffen eine archaische Sinnlichkeit. Eine einfache und zugleich streng gebaute Vokalmusik mit Tiefenwirkung.

Nach der Urauffuhrung war die Esslinger Zeitung hellauf begeistert: Smolka ist ein Meister der Stimmbehandlung und der chorischen Klanggestaltung. Im Zentrum des Stucks gerat die Musik zum Stillstand: im leisen gleichmassigen Summen uber dem plotzlich fortissimo ein tschechisches Kinderlied erklingt eines das der Vater seinen Kindern haufig vorgesungen hat. Das alles war sehr beruhrend. Und eigentlich noch mehr als das. My father PhDr. Jaroslav Smolka (1933-2011) was a leading Czech musicologist author of books Czech Cantata and Oratorium Fuga in Czech Music Smetana's Orchestra Music Smetana's Vocal Music monography of Jan Dismas Zelenka and many others. He was a legendary teacher of Music History at Prague Music Academy critic recording producer composer; for almost 50 years he was an important and highly respected personality of Prague musical life.
My father devoted a lot of time and energy to musical education and activities of my sister and me using often quite original methods such as teaching of intervals and counterpoint through Bartok's Microcosmos ear training filling all imaginable moments of everyday life or lessons of harmony analysis starting with Overture to Tristan and Musorgsky's Catacombs. The Martinu song Wondering Maiden was his solo number in our home vocal productions which he used to sing with amazing devotion while his huge voice was audible in several neighboring streets.
My Agnus Dei is closely bound to all this history e.g. by using canon and preferring beauty of dissonant seconds like Bartok or quoting Martinu and his refined neoclassical harmony. Father would be probably a bit critical about the minimalistic monotony of the main body of the piece. Nevertheless firstly he would improvise a short lecture of history of Agnus Dei in Requiem in Czech Music naming by heart many dates and all examples of changes of order of the traditional text by composers. Examples would be sung probably.
(Martin Smolka).

SKU: HL.49045955

ISBN 9790001167376. UPC: 888680925840. 9.0x12.0x0.078 inches. English.

Henry Purcell wrote several works in honor of Saint Cecilia, patron saint of church music. The best known of these works probably is Hail! Bright Cecilia (1692) the solo part of which was performed by Purcell himself at the world premiere. Welcome to all the pleasures was composed in 1683 on a text by Christopher Fishburn. The work is now published as piano reduction of the score published by Eulenburg (ETP 1062).