(Cecilia, Roman virgin) is a composition for mixed choir and orchestra by

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n composer

Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in p ...

, written in 2000 for the

Great Jubilee The Great Jubilee in 2000 was a major event in the Catholic Church, held from Christmas Eve (24 December) 1999 to Epiphany (holiday), Epiphany (6 January) 2001. Like previous Jubilee in the Catholic Church, Jubilee years, it was a celebration of ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. The Italian text deals with the life and martyrdom of

Saint Cecilia Saint Cecilia (), also spelled Cecelia, was a Roman Christian virgin martyr, who is venerated in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox, Anglican Communion, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden. She became the ...

, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of music, and was first performed on 19 November 2000, close to her feast day on 22 November, by the

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia () is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western musical history: Gre ...

conducted by

Myung-whun Chung Myung-whun Chung (; born 22 January 1953) is a South Korean conductor and pianist. Career Performer Chung studied piano with Maria Curcio and won joint second-prize in the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition. He performed in the Chun ...

History

The composition was commissioned by the Agenzia Romana per la preparazione del Giubileo of Rome in Italy for the millennium celebrations, the

. Pärt dedicated it to the conductor

and to the choir and orchestra of the

, who performed the premiere on 19 November 2000 in Rome, close to the feast of the saint on 22 November. It was published by

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is an Austrian classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, it originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market. The firm soon expanded to become one of t ...

Text and music

Pärt searched for a text to commemorate the martyrdom of

, the patron saint of music, beginning in 1999. He found a Latin text at the Graz seminary in the Breviarium Romanum, containing a short description of her life. A historic translation to Italian was found at the Monastero di Bose. ''Cecilia, vergine romana'' is set in a single

movement Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger co ...

, and takes about 17 minutes to perform. It is scored for a four-part choir (

SATB In music, SATB is a scoring of compositions for choirs or consorts of instruments consisting of four voice types: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Choral music Four-part harmony using soprano, alto, tenor and bass is a common scoring in classic ...

), two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, percussion (two players), harp, and strings.

Recording

The composition was recorded, together with other works by Pärt, titled ''In principio'', by the

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) is a professional choir based in Estonia. It was founded in 1981 by Tõnu Kaljuste, who was its conductor for twenty years. In 2001, Paul Hillier followed Kaljuste's tenure, becoming the EPCC's princi ...

conducted by

Tõnu Kaljuste Tõnu Kaljuste (born August 28, 1953) is an Estonian conductor. Born in Tallinn, Kaljuste is the son of Heino Kaljuste (1925–1989), an Estonian choral conductor, and Lia Kaljuste, a radio journalist. Tõnu sang in his father's choirs as a chil ...

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

in 2009. The collection also includes ''

Da pacem Domine (Give peace, Lord) is the incipit of two different Latin chant texts: a votive antiphon and an introit. Both have been the base for musical compositions to be used inside or outside the liturgy. Paraphrased versions of the text were created by Ma ...

'', among others. It was recorded with other works by Pärt by the choir and orchestra of

Bayerischer Rundfunk (; "Bavarian Broadcasting"), shortened to BR (), is a public broadcasting, public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Bavaria, Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD (b ...

, conducted by

Ulf Schirmer Ulf Schirmer (born 1959) is a German conductor and opera house administrator. Biography Born in Eschenhausen, Lower Saxony, Schirmer studied at the Bremen Conservatory, and also at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, with György Lig ...

References

External links

''Cecilia, vergine romana''
on

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

* ,

Kristjan Järvi Kristjan Järvi (, alternate (U.S.) spelling: Kristian Järvi) (born 13 June 1972) is an Estonian conductor, composer and producer. Born in Tallinn, Estonia, he is the younger son of the conductor Neeme Järvi and brother of conductor Paavo Jär ...

conducting {{authority control Choral compositions by Arvo Pärt 2000 oratorios Oratorios