A Hymn for St Cecilia

composer

Herbert Howells (1892-1983)

for the Livery Club of the Worshipful Company of Musicians; first performed on 22 November 1961 in St Paul's Cathedral

author of text

Ursula Vaughan Williams (1911-2007)

Recordings

Howells: Choral Music

Wells Cathedral Choir, Malcolm Archer (conductor)

Buy by post £13.99 (ARCHIVE SERVICE) CDA67494 Archive Service Only Download currently discounted

Howells: Requiem & other choral works

Trinity College Choir Cambridge, Stephen Layton (conductor)

Buy by post £13.99 CDA67914

The English Anthem, Vol. 4

St Paul's Cathedral Choir, John Scott (conductor)

Buy by post £13.99 (ARCHIVE SERVICE) CDA66678 Archive Service Only

Details

Wells Cathedral Choir, Malcolm Archer (conductor)

Track 2 on CDA67494 [3'11] Archive Service Only

English

Trinity College Choir Cambridge, Stephen Layton (conductor), Simon Bland (organ)

Track 1 on CDA67914 [3'07]

English

Français

Deutsch

St Paul's Cathedral Choir, John Scott (conductor), Andrew Lucas (organ)

Track 4 on CDA66678 [3'14] Archive Service Only

English

A Hymn for St Cecilia

EnglishFrançaisDeutsch

A Hymn for St Cecilia, commissioned by the Livery Club of the Worshipful Company of Musicians to mark Howells’s Mastership of the Company in 1959–60, sets a poem in praise of the Patron Saint of music by Ursula Vaughan Williams as a three-verse hymn. The wonderful dancing-on-tiptoe nature of this piece takes its cue from the syncopated first vocal entry and each phrase finds increasingly high notes as the verse goes on. It is a classic ‘cumulative’ tune which carries the singer along on a tide of increasing emotional energy and leaves an impression of being a piece much bigger than its constituent parts.

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Hyperion Records