Hail! Bright Cecilia!

So goes Henry Purcell’s Ode to Saint Cecilia, whose feast day is celebrated today (22nd November). Purcell’s ode is perhaps one of the best known compositions written in honour of this patron saint of music. It is a poem by Nicholas Brady which was set to music by Purcell in 1692. Brady’s poem was derived …

Labours of the Month: November

Imagine you are standing at the edge of a forest on a cold November day. The periodic thump of a woodsman's axe echoes in the still air and from the shade beneath the trees there comes the sound of many animals rooting around in the fallen leaves. You hear their grunts and the occasional thwack of the swineherd's stick …