For St. Cecilia (subtitled “Ceremonial Ode”) was commissioned by the St. Cecilia’s Day Festival Committee and premiered in the Royal Albert Hall on 22 November 1947, St. Cecilia’s Day (Cecilian works by Purcell and Handel were performed as well).  The performance put Finzi on the map as a composer.

The substantial text is by British writer Edmund Blunden, a poet sufficiently important to have been made a C.B.E. by the monarch.  He was also author of several poems that Finzi set, and the two became good friends.  Blunden’s text introduces the Catholic saint, patron saint of music, as a “delightful Goddess,” thus paganizing her.  The poem includes two lists, one of saints and one of English (or sort-of English) composers.  Finzi nixed a third list of musical instruments.

This is ideal for choirs who have enjoyed performing works such as Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens, an ode with which it bears many similarities, not least in the resplendent, ceremonial orchestral prelude which announces the choir’s fanfare-like first entry. The work provides plenty of variety in the choral writing and there are few sections with complex counterpoint, making it readily performable by most choral societies. There are doublings in all four voice parts but these are by no means extended and, save for a few isolated bars, the orchestra accompanies the choir throughout. A semi-chorus is indicated for a short passage in the centre of the work but this may be sung by all the singers if the choir is small. For choirs who have not performed any Finzi previously, this work would make an excellent and rewarding introduction.