'Hail! Bright Cecilia** (Z.328), also known as **Ode to St. Cecilia', was composed by Henry Purcell to a text by the Irishman Nicholas Brady in 1692 in honour of the feast day of Saint Cecilia, patron saint of musicians. Annual celebrations of this saint's feast day (22 November) began in 1683, organised by the Musical Society of London, a group of musicians and music lovers. Welcome to all the pleasures (Z.339) was written by Purcell in 1683 and he went on to write other Cecilian pieces of which ''Hail! Bright Cecilia'' remains the best known. The first performance on 22 September 1692 at Stationers' Hall was a great success, and received an encore.

Text

Brady's poem was derived from John Dryden's "A Song for St Cecilia's Day" of 1687. Following Dryden, Brady extols the birth and personality of musical instruments, including the idea that Cecilia invented the organ (see note ). Purcell responds to the text by giving emphasis to the colours and dramatic possibilities of the baroque orchestra.

Music

Scoring

With a text full of references to musical instruments, the work is scored for a variety of vocal soloists and obbligato instruments, along with strings and basso continuo. For example, "Hark, each Tree" is a duet between, vocally, soprano and bass, and instrumentally, between recorders and violins. These instruments are called for in the text ("box and fir" being the woods from which they are made). However, Purcell did not always follow Brady's cues exactly. He scored the warlike music for two brass trumpets and copper kettle drums instead of the fife mentioned by Brady. It has been suggested that Purcell himself was the countertenor soloist at the first performance. However, although he was a trained singer, the idea that he sang at this premiere appears to be a misunderstanding of a contemporary review.

Musical structures

The airs employ a variety of dance forms. "Hark, each tree" is a sarabande. "Thou tun'st this world" is set as a minuet. The compositional techniques used by Purcell include counterpoint and the ground bass ("Hark, each Tree" is a duet on a ground bass, "In vain the am'rous flute" is set to a passacaglia bass).

Movements

The work consists of 13 movements.

Text

Publication

The work was edited for publication by Edward Francis Rimbault.