Here on the approach to Thanksgiving comes St. Cecilia’s Day. Cecilia was a second century Roman martyr who, on her wedding day, sang in her heart to the Lord while the musicians played, and for this reason she is known as a patron saint of music, musicians, and poets.
There are no particular traditions that have been passed down through the ages for St. Cecilia’s Day, though it has became associated with concerts and festivals celebrating music. The first record of a concert in her honor on her feast day goes back to 1570 in Normandy. Music for St. Cecilia has been composed by the likes of Henry Purcell, George Frideric Handel, and the English composer Benjamin Britten, who was born on St. Cecilia’s Day, 1913.
What finer day to celebrate the gift of music than on St. Cecilia’s Day? Music is one of the most complex and amazing of human cultural accomplishments. A simple collection of sounds, and yet such power to move us. Here, for St. Cecilia’s Day, is a musical gift for you: “Adagio for Strings,” the second movement of Samuel Barber’s String Quartet, Opus 11, performed by the Cypress Quartet. Happy St. Cecilia’s Day.
Image: “Le Concert” by Gerard van Honthorst. Oil on canvas, c. 1623 [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.