This is an essay about St. Cecilia's false association with music and her interesting inspiration to mostly male composers.
St. Cecilia: Music and Myth
St. Cecilia is known socially, culturally and religiously as the Patron Saint of Music. Her popularity and association with music are false, however, because Cecilia was not musical and in fact through tangled history and human error she probably did not even exist. Historical facts aside she has been directly associated with music now for about five centuries, making her an icon of music. She has become a source of inspiration, almost like a muse. Misconstrued history has led to her incorrect labeling, but her inspirational capabilities make her connection with music important and relevant. She has been created as musical and it is essential she remains connected with music. Interestingly, she has been most inspirational towards male composers. Hopefully it will become more attributable as a female symbol of music and not simply an icon of patriarchal male domination in music.
The history of St. Cecilia in general, not considering music, is misconstrued if not completely false. There is no evidence of her existence and any labeled proof has been proven false. Most interestingly, music is not considered in the early accounts of St. Cecilia, and it is amazing how she becomes associated with music throughout the Middle Ages. The blatant fact is “the Acts are essentially a literary fiction designed to glorify the virginal life” (Luckett, 16). The first accounts of Cecilia were translated and rewritten many times and the original documentation of her story is unknown and does not exist. Her name is known to start circulating in the late fifth century with associations as one of many undistinguished virgin martyrs. St. Cecilia became very popular due to the literary aspects of her Acts. Extremely important is the description of her wedding in which instruments were playing. In early Latin the word for instruments is organis, which many people have confused to mean organ. Additionally, she is described to be silently singing (praying) in her heart to God. These descriptions morphed into to her playing the organ and to her singing aloud. Her connection with music started with a mistranslation which was never corrected (Connolly, 14; Luckett, 16- 21).
In the fifteenth century the Middle Ages were ending, craft guilds were growing, exploitation and cults of saints especially virgin saints began, the status of musicians as artists increased, attributions and symbols for saints increased (Luckett, 24). There was a need for a saint of music and Cecilia fulfilled the need. Stories about her musical achievements or her invention of the organ are “rationalizations” of her visual portrayals (Luckett, 26). It is assumed that Raphael’s 1514 painting was the first to portray her as musical, but this is also false. There are visual representations in the fourteenth century depicting her musically leading to her iconography association with music between 1450 and 1500 (Luckett, 19). There is an Italian visual showing Cecilia with an instrument from the late fifteenth century, the cathedral at Albi was dedicated to St. Cecilia with musical depictions in 1480 and scenes from the Acts as well as paintings featuring her with music (Luckett, 19). As the sixteenth century ends she is completely synonymous with music and is an inspiration by the seventeenth century.
Many artists, composers, poets and writers, mostly men, over the centuries have found encouragement in Cecilia’s muse-like quality. Some musical pieces written for her Feast day are simply masses with Latin texts such as Scarlatti’s St. Cecilia Mass written for her 1720 Roman celebration and Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass (1855). Among other well known pieces there is an Ode on St Cecilia’s Day by Henry Purcell (1692), a song “Ode on the rejection of St. Cecilia” by Gerald Finzi with text by G. Barker, a Hymn for St. Cecilia by Herbert Howells with words by Ursula Vaughan Williams (1961). Some, however, show how important she can truly be to a composer; even if male it is glorifying a woman through song with a different style of praise. Two works which are very interesting are Handel’s Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day (1739) and Benjamin Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia (1942).
The text of Handel’s is taken from the second of two odes to Cecilia’s musical honor from 1687 and 1697 by John Dryden. The piece mostly portrays the text of generally glorifying music. Although at one point the text is very interesting: “Fury, frantic indignation, Depth of pains and height of passion, For the fair, disdainful dame” and the music responds by rising in pitch. Section No. 12 is a recitative named “but Bright Cecilia” with “But bright Cecilia rais’d the wonder high’r: When to her organ vocal breath was giv’n, An angel heard, and straight appear’d Mistaking earth for heaven” as the text. It is apparent that she was believed to be very musical and divine because of her talent. It could be that her prayers were deemed special or heightened because they were sang and better heart. It seems as if people believed her praying through song made her prayers more beautiful and worth and closer to God.
Benjamin Britten’s piece is extremely interesting. He seems to personally relate to her and her patriarchal oppression. Some believe that Cecilia “prays for deliverance from confusion,” which could connect to Britten’s homosexuality and possible pedophilic feelings (Connolly, 40). The text by W. H. Auden is beautifully and powerfully set. The music is soft and pleading when the chorus sings, “Like a black swan as death came on Pour’d forth her song in perfect calm: And by ocean’s margin this innocent virgin Constructed an organ to enlarge her prayer”. The main prayer for inspiration is, “Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions To all musicians, appear and inspire: Translated Daughter come down and startle composing mortals with immortal fire,” which returns once and then again to end the piece. The chorus sings, “I have no shadow to run away from, I only play” sounding like something personal to Britten, possibly his own wanting to run away from his inner demons, but can only compose. One section ends with “Love me” in the soprano on a soft E, expressing desire, yet pain. The text, “dread like a beast, of truths that never change” is sung lower and softer, almost as if more truthful and hurtful. Then it is disturbing when, “Oh dear white children . . . So gay against the greater silences of dreadful things you did . . . O weep child weep, weep away the stain, Lost innocence” culminates in a large climax leading up to innocence. The focus returns to honoring music and ends with the prayer for inspiration. It is safe to assume that Britten used St. Cecilia’s association with music as a prayer for inspiration, change, and as a calming effect on the suffering of his troublesome thoughts.
It is apparent that the history of Cecilia is a myth created through miscommunication, misconstrued facts and worship like cults. Her purpose was to encourage chastity. Honoring her as the patron saint of music is mistaken, but as some believe “she symbolized at least some kind of female identification with musical practice (Cook and Tsou, 1). Some feminist musicologists see her as passive and idealized for being perfect according to patriarchal chastity, domesticity, and submissiveness. It is also interesting to think that although she was a performer of music she was never a composer (Cook and Tsou, 1). However, by ‘reclaiming’ her musicology can decide to not let patriarchal exploitation continue. Her inspiration to composers is incredibly important, especially when analyzing Benjamin Britten’s piece. In order to reclaim Cecilia and move forward we must accept that historically and factually St. Cecilia was a literary figment and unmusical. However, she is very powerful because the abstract Cecilia has created a nurturing source of endless inspiration and relating abilities for musicians. Maybe her muse-like quality is still praise-worthy even if she also served to uphold virginity. In the artistic depictions of her she knew suffering and understood the plight of humans. Her empathetic force is important for musicians and it proved extremely therapeutic for Britten. We need to embrace her and recognize her potential. Composers need an abstract figure of inspiration. She is still relevant as a source of musical inspiration even though she is unhistorical and her story lies mostly within fictitious stories and human miscommunication. St. Cecilia’s falsity does not make her less of a muse. Hopefully she will become more of a muse to female musicians.
Works Cited
Britten, Benjamin.Hymn to St. Cecilia (Op. 27). 1942.
Connolly, Thomas. Mourning into Joy: Music, Raphael, and Saint Cecilia. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994.
Cook, Susan C., and Judy S. Tsou. "Bright Cecilia." Introduction. Cecilia Reclaimed: Feminist
Perspectives on Gender and Music. Ed. Susan C. Cook and Judy S. Tsou. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, n.d. 1-10.
Handel, George Friderich. Ode On St. Cecilia's Day. 1739. New York: The H.W.Gray Co., n.d.
Lives of Saints: With Excerpts from Their Writings. Ed. Joseph Vann, Father. New York: John J.
Crawley and Co., Inc., 1954.
Luckett, Richard. "St. Cecilia and Music." Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association 99
(1972-1973): 15-30. 21 Nov. 2008
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