St. Cecilia.

The legend of St. Cecilia for two centuries has inspired the poet and
composer, and the custom of celebrating her festival has obtained in
nearly all European countries during the same period. The earliest
observance was at Evreux, France, in 1571. The first celebration in
England of which any record remains was that of 1683; though it is clear
from the accounts of musical writers in the seventeenth century that the
custom had been practised many years prior to that date. From 1683 to
1750 St. Cecilia festivals were given annually in London, and for these
occasions an ode was written and set to music.[13] In the latter year the
distinctive name of the festival fell into disuse, though large musical
festivals were frequently held after that year on the saint's day. In
France regular entertainments were given on St. Cecilia's Day from 1573
to 1601, when the record terminates. In Italy the anniversary of the
saint has not been celebrated except as a church festival. In Germany the
custom prevailed as early as the sixteenth century; and in the next
century Cecilia festivals were quite common in Spain. Prior to Benedict's
work the most modern composition having the legend for its basis was a
cantata by Van Bree, of Amsterdam, written in 1845.

These preliminaries will enable the reader the better to understand the
introduction which Mr. Chorley has written to the text of the cantata by
Benedict, composed for the Norwich Festival of 1866. Mr. Chorley says:--

"It has long been a favorite fancy of mine to treat the legend of St.
Cecilia for music with a view to the possible revival of such
celebrations as were held in gone-by years, when English sympathy for
the art was more limited in every respect than at the present time. It
is true that the names of Dryden and Addison among the poets, and of
Handel among the musicians, who have made 'divine Cecilia's' praise
immortal, might be thought to deter anyone from dealing with the
subject. But theirs were merely votive odes indirectly bearing on the
power of the art of which Cecilia is patron saint. This cantata of mine
sets forth her story, which, so far as I am aware, has not been done
before in any of the works produced for the Cecilian festivals in
England. All who are familiar with the accepted legend, as told in the
'Legenda Aurea' of Jacobus Januensis, Archbishop of Genoa, will
perceive that I have treated it with