Britten: Hymn to St Cecilia
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- Опубликовано: 3 сен 2013
- Artist: The Cambridge Singers, with John Rutter
Album: A Cappella
Composer: Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976)
Text, by W.H. Auden (1907 - 1973):
Part I:
In a garden shady this holy lady
With reverent cadence and subtle psalm,
Like a black swan as death came on
Poured forth her song in perfect calm:
And by ocean's margin this innocent virgin
Constructed an organ to enlarge her prayer,
And notes tremendous from her great engine
Thundered out on the Roman air.
Blonde Aphrodite rose up excited,
Moved to delight by the melody,
White as an orchid she rode quite naked
In an oyster shell on top of the sea;
At sounds so entrancing the angels dancing
Came out of their trance into time again,
And around the wicked in Hell's abysses
The huge flame flickered and eased their pain.
Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.
Part II:
I cannot grow;
I have no shadow
To run away from,
I only play.
I cannot err;
There is no creature
Whom I belong to,
Whom I could wrong.
I am defeat
When it knows it
Can now do nothing
By suffering.
All you lived through,
Dancing because you
No longer need it
For any deed.
I shall never be
Different. Love me.
Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.
Part III:
O ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall,
O calm of spaces unafraid of weight,
Where Sorrow is herself, forgetting all
The gaucheness of her adolescent state,
Where Hope within the altogether strange
From every outworn image is released,
And Dread born whole and normal like a beast
Into a world of truths that never change:
Restore our fallen day; O re-arrange.
O dear white children casual as birds,
Playing among the ruined languages,
So small beside their large confusing words,
So gay against the greater silences
Of dreadful things you did: O hang the head,
Impetuous child with the tremendous brain,
O weep, child, weep, O weep away the stain,
Lost innocence who wished your lover dead,
Weep for the lives your wishes never led.
O cry created as the bow of sin
Is drawn across our trembling violin.
O weep, child, weep, O weep away the stain.
O law drummed out by hearts against the still
Long winter of our intellectual will
.
That what has been may never be again.
O flute that throbs with the thanksgiving breath
Of convalescents on the shores of death.
O bless the freedom that you never chose.
O trumpets that unguarded children blow
About the fortress of their inner foe.
O wear your tribulation like a rose.
Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire. 
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I was in complete terror through all the rehearsals - but after the concert, when it was all over, I went into withdrawal - I wanted to keep singing it - forever...
+jansumi If it makes you feel any better, I sang it thirty years ago and still hear it in my head. I would love to perform it one more time. One of the best pieces I have ever sung...
I know exactly what you mean. This was the most insane and gorgeous pieces I've ever tackled in my life. I miss it, but I still remember how we fell apart so many times during rehearsals. I also remember how triumphant it felt when we finally performed it.
I last sang it in 1976 - but we've got it programmed for next year. Can't wait.
Sang this in undergrad concert choir 30-some years ago, and can still remember every note of the tenor part. And yes, the terror in rehearsals! We were lucky to have a couple of basses with really solid C2. They made the room rumble on "immortal fiiiire"!
This is a true testament to how a piece of music can be an experience all its own. I swear I am taken away to some higher plane of existence when I listen to Hymn to St Cecilia.
I sang this under John Rutter at 17 years old at an honors clinic at Missouri University in 1981. It definitely weeded out the weak.
I used this most-excellent Rutter recording to bring my voice up to speed when I rejoined my choir after having been downed by a major surgery. What an incredibly startling musical translation of W.H. Auden's jewel. I am grateful to have this etched into my heart by rehearsal and performance!
Love the Britten. Thanks Sam! xo
Always loved singing this - Sublime. Loved singing those words especially "Oh Dear White Children"
…have sung this piece… still makes my hair stand on end… gorgeous…
The second part of this song… “I only play, I only play” it’s my favorite part of the entire piece by far
Once I was trying to finish composing the final movement of a choral composition, but I came to a standstill because I couldn't find a violinist who could play the violin part I had written for the earlier movement. It was too difficult. Suddenly, without warning, a violinist named Celia appeared out of the blue. She could play my impossible violin part. I finished my composition successfully. Coincidence? YOU DECIDE.
YES, YES IT IS
still happy for you though
i think not xdxd
In a garden shady this holy lady
With reverent cadence and subtle psalm,
Like a black swan as death came on
Poured forth her song in perfect calm:
And by ocean's margin this innocent virgin
Constructed an organ to enlarge her prayer,
And notes tremendous from her great engine
Thundered out on the Roman air.
Blonde Aphrodite rose up excited,
Moved to delight by the melody,
White as an orchid she rode quite naked
In an oyster shell on top of the sea;
At sounds so entrancing the angels dancing
Came out of their trance into time again,
And around the wicked in Hell's abysses
The huge flame flickered and eased their pain.
Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.
I cannot grow;
I have no shadow
To run away from,
I only play.
I cannot err;
There is no creature
Whom I belong to,
Whom I could wrong.
I am defeat
When it knows it
Can now do nothing
By suffering.
All you lived through,
Dancing because you
No longer need it
For any deed.
I shall never be Different. Love me.
Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.
O ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall,
O calm of spaces unafraid of weight,
Where Sorrow is herself, forgetting all
The gaucheness of her adolescent state,
Where Hope within the altogether strange
From every outworn image is released,
And Dread born whole and normal like a beast
Into a world of truths that never change:
Restore our fallen day; O re-arrange.
O dear white children casual as birds,
Playing among the ruined languages,
So small beside their large confusing words,
So gay against the greater silences
Of dreadful things you did: O hang the head,
Impetuous child with the tremendous brain,
O weep, child, weep, O weep away the stain,
Lost innocence who wished your lover dead,
Weep for the lives your wishes never led.
O cry created as the bow of sin Is drawn across our trembling violin.
O weep, child, weep, O weep away the stain.
O law drummed out by hearts against the still
Long winter of our intellectual will.
That what has been may never be again.
O flute that throbs with the thanksgiving breath
Of convalescents on the shores of death.
O bless the freedom that you never chose.
O trumpets that unguarded children blow
About the fortress of their inner foe.
O wear your tribulation like a rose.
Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.
Always goosbumps..
@Nathaniel Ashley how are they depressing?
The second section alone: "I cannot grow, I have no shadow to run away from, I only play"...
That's Music, talking.
A wonderful interpretation! Such clarity of diction and lightness, and what a lovely, almost ethereal tone!
Amém Amém Amém obrigada
notes tremendous thundered out indeed! what a piece. good performance
Tremendously difficult choral work to perform. Wow...what a fabulous job here! St. Cecelia musta been pleased.
One of my all-time favourites :D
Beautiful song
Is it just me, or is everyone completely and utterly determined to avoid buying any product advertised in the middle of a piece of music. #idespisegrammarly
They take very deliberate aim, then shoot themselves in the foot.
Alvely piece and very well performed. It stays with you for quite a while after you've heard it.
I love this performance - so detailed and musical. Thank you. Having a Britten day!
12:55MN,11/22/2021,4th Monday of November 2021, Greenville, Jersey City, NJ 07305 USA 🇺🇲 HALLELUJAH 👼🎶
reasonably unusual words and music. But they really work. Darned good performance. Enjoyed this.
A lovely performance! Although it is a bit faster than my musical taste dictates; particularly the second part.
This song has strong message for all the musicians and choir, I would like to teach this song to my co-choirmates, is there any available music sheet for this? thank you
+Nicko Ramos Boosey & Hawkes has most of Brittens music. It is not yet in the public domain.
Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited ISMN M-060-01449-9
Especially during the St. Cecelia hymn: Where the hell is the fire? What's the big rush?
hihihi
He gaudit molt dels concets
ECCELLENZA/GIUSTO FRANCO COMPOSITORE PIANISTA SAVONA I
Too fast and staccato by far. There is no space in this to hear many of the words and BB's sublime harmonies and surprising structure is lost in the trot.
Amém Amém Amém obrigada