Ode à Sainte-Cécile

On 15 August 1852 Le Ménestrel announced a competition sponsored by the Parisian musical society devoted to the promotion of new works by contemporary composers, the Société Sainte-Cécile. Candidates were invited to compose an “Ode à sainte Cécile” for solo voice, choir and orchestra, to a text (written in verse) by Paul Nibelle. Saint-Saëns entered and won the competition with his Ode-cantate Sainte-Cécile, selected unanimously after careful examination of the twenty-two submissions, by a jury composed, amongst others, of Halévy, Gounod and Adam. His ode for soprano, choir and orchestra was performed on 26 December 1852, at the second concert of the Société Sainte-Cécile, held in the Salle Sainte-Cécile, with the soprano Mme Meillet as the soloist. The article that appeared in Le Ménestrel of 9 January 1853 reads: “This work is soberly written, which is an achievement for a very young man; there are here and there phrases that denote a real talent.” In the Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, Hector Berlioz mentioned “a harmonious, if not glowing, ode to Saint Cecilia”. Preserved in a manuscript dated 22 September 1852, the Ode-cantate Sainte Cécile gives the lion’s share to the chorus in pieces that are often homophonic and powerful. The invocation,“Reine de l’harmonie, inspire et soutiens nos accords”, sung by the soloist, is supported by arpeggios from the harp, which fade away only with the entrance of the final chorus, taking up the words already heard at its first intervention: “Sing the praises of the Lord, And let your sacred lute quiver beneath your fingers, Your songs to the holy courts delight the angels, And the earth listens to your voice.”