Music for Saint Cecilia
Amanda McFadden
Content posted on Nov. 15
Amanda McFadden
Content posted on Nov. 15
St. Cecilia, Simon Vouet, 1625
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St. Cecilia, Stefano Maderno, 1600
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Cecilia at the Organ, Carlo Dolci, 1671
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From the renaissance period to the modern day, composers have written music in honor of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music. Join Amanda in listening to a few musical offerings to St. Cecilia featuring Handel, Britten, and more!
Texts
Silence and Music Text - Vaughan Williams
Silence, come first: I see a sleeping swan,
wings closed, and drifting where the water leads,
a winter moon, a grove where shadows dream,
a hand outstretched to gather hollow reeds.
The four winds in their litanies can tell
all of earth’s stories as they weep and cry,
the sea names all the treasure of her tides,
the birds rejoice between the earth and sky.
Voices of grief and from the heart of joy;
so near to comprehension do we stand
that wind and sea and all of winged delight
lie in the octaves of man’s voice and hand,
and music wakes from silence, where it slept.
Silence, come first: I see a sleeping swan,
wings closed, and drifting where the water leads,
a winter moon, a grove where shadows dream,
a hand outstretched to gather hollow reeds.
The four winds in their litanies can tell
all of earth’s stories as they weep and cry,
the sea names all the treasure of her tides,
the birds rejoice between the earth and sky.
Voices of grief and from the heart of joy;
so near to comprehension do we stand
that wind and sea and all of winged delight
lie in the octaves of man’s voice and hand,
and music wakes from silence, where it slept.