Song for St. Cecelia (2010)
SATB vocal quartet
c. 2 minutes 30 seconds
text by John Dryden
Premiered by I Rozzi Armadilli
Gault Recital Hall, 29 October 2010
c. 2 minutes 30 seconds
text by John Dryden
Premiered by I Rozzi Armadilli
Gault Recital Hall, 29 October 2010
Song for St. Cecilia was written for the solo vocal quartet I Rozzi Armadilli. The text is taken from John Dryden’s A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day (1687), which describes the power and omnipresence of music in every stage of life. Dryden describes music as being a creative and destructive force responsible for the birth of the universe, and prevailing even as the rest of the world crumbles. Thus, the piece starts off with a single unison note before the voices divide in harmony. The voices evoke trumpets heralding the end of the world, ending boldly as music “detunes” the sky.
Excerpts from A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day
From harmony, to heavenly harmony
This universal frame began;
From harmony to harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in Man.
As from the power of sacred lays
The spheres began to move,
And sung the great Creator’s praise
To the blest above:
So, when the last and dreadful hour
This crumbling pageant shall devour,
The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And Music shall detune the sky.
Excerpts from A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day
From harmony, to heavenly harmony
This universal frame began;
From harmony to harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in Man.
As from the power of sacred lays
The spheres began to move,
And sung the great Creator’s praise
To the blest above:
So, when the last and dreadful hour
This crumbling pageant shall devour,
The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And Music shall detune the sky.