Project Description
Grandes Odes
Cécile Achille, Eugénie Lefebvre, Amandine Trenc : sopranos / Paulin Büdgen, Clotilde Cantau, Alice Habellion : altos / Paco Garcia, Martin Candela, Davy Cornillot : ténors / Étienne Bazola, Sébastien Brohier, Louis-Pierre Patron : basses
Orchestra – ensemble Les Surprises (18 instrumentists)
Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas, direction
Saint Cecilia was a young female from Roman high society when Christians were persecuted. Converted to christianism, she converts her husband and family and was then sentenced to death. It’s said that her persecutor couldn’t execute her despite his main efforts. She praid 3 days long before her passing. In the course of centuries, many legends linked her to music. I the XVth century, Saint Cecilia became the musicians patron saint.
From 1670, England started to celebrate Saint Cecilia name day with wonderful musics. Musicians and composers were the most important from the end of the XVIIth century, such as Henry Purcell, John Blow, William Turner, Giovanni Draghi…
The two composers in this program, Purcell and Blow, were very good friends who influenced each other. Blow, less famous today, was Purcell master. He wrote him an amazing tribute when he died : An Ode on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell.
Those two musicians were asked by the London Musical Society to compose Odes in homage to Saint Cecilia. They both used their great science in order to pay tribute to the power of music. Blow with counterpoint and affects, Purcell with trumpets and drums, multiplying instrumentals colors and vocal virtuosity.
« Begin the Song ! », wrote in 1684, and « Hail, bright Cecilia », composed in 1692, offer two very different and compatible figures of Music, performed by two friends and huge musicians.