St. Cecilia Fragments by Robert D. Terrio

Gregory Wrinn Memorial Concert

November 14, 2010
Gregory Wrinn Memorial Auditorium

Ludlow High School
Ludlow, MA

The "St. Cecilia Fragments" is based on John Dryden's poem "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, 1687." It is the first of Dryden's two great Odes written to celebrate the patron saint of musicians. This poem has been set to music by several composers, Henry Purcell and Georg Frederic Handel among them. My own treatment of this text is precisely what the title implies: several textual fragments that not only encapsulate the general ideas in the poem, but underscore the essence of what Greg Wrinn brought to his students and others who were fortunate to benefit from his great gifts as educator and musician. The first part of the piece is a musical exposition of various lines of text from the poem, and the latter part is a chorale setting of the "Grand Chorus" section of the poem, in its entirety. -Robert Terrio

From harmony, from Heav'nly harmony
This universal frame began.
From harmony from harmony to harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
What passion cannot music raise and quell!
What passion cannot music raise and quell!
But oh! what art can teach
What human voice can reach
The sacred organ's praise?

GRAND CHORUS

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 final 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.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• St.
• Cecilia
• Fragments

[terryvitalMusic]

Wonderful! So touching.

[leephenner]

Jay Dias, conductor

Jean Aldrich Jones and Marcia Bunten, accompanists

Dr. Karen Lavoie, trumpet

[sliving5]

amazing