Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (Händel)

On November 22, we celebrate the Feast of St. Cecilia.

For a treat, enjoy Händel's Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, 

based on a poem by John Dryden, by clicking here.

The last section is particularly striking, and might offer food for thought this weekend. 

(For the complete text, click on "Libretto," below.)

Orpheus could lead the savage race,

And trees, unrooted, left their place,

Sequacious of the lyre.

But bright Cecilia raised the wonder high’r:

When to her organ, vocal breath was giv’n,

An angel heard, and straight appear’d,

Mistaking earth for Heav’n.

As from the pow’r of sacred lays

The spheres began to move,

And sung the great Creator’s praise

To all the bless’d above;

So when the last and dreadful hour

This crumbling pageant shall devour,

The trumpet shall be heard on high,

The dead shall live, the living die,

And music shall untune the sky.

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Libretto