Handel Consort & Quire - Ode to St Cecilia - Purcell

Hail! Bright Cecilia (Z.328), also known as Ode to St. Cecilia, was composed by Henry Purcell to a text by the Irishman Nicholas Brady in 1692 in honour of the feast day of Saint Cecilia, patron saint of musicians (Nov 22). Stirring choruses and exquisite airs, duets, a trio and quartet replete with recorders, trumpets, drums, strings and woodwind provide many different colours and moods in this beautiful work.

Vivaldi's double trumpet concerto is well-known. Vivaldi composed the Concerto for Two Trumpets in C major possibly in the 1720s in Venice. It is his only trumpet concerto. In the first movement, the strings modulate to a minor key, which returns to the major when the trumpets re-enter. In the middle movement of only six measures, the trumpets are silent, with both the style and harmony being unsuitable for the instrument. It is in a languid mood, set with sustained chords from the strings. The third movement, beginning with fanfare arpeggios in canon from the soloists, is in a triple metre and brings the work to a vigorous conclusion.

The concert will be rounded out with a few popular choruses from Handel's Messiah and a few a cappella carols as we enter the advent season.