SKU: ST.PC3
Composed by Giovanni
Battista Draghi. Library
Volumes. Purcell Society
Edition Companion Series
Vol 3.. Edited by Bryan
White. Hardback. Full
score. Stainer & Bell
Ltd. #PC3. Published by
Stainer & Bell Ltd.
(ST.PC3).
Never
previously published,
though surviving in no
fewer than five
manuscript copies,
Giovanni Battista
Draghi's A Song for
St Cecilia's Day of
1687 impressed his
contemporaries, and
merits admiration from
modern audiences for its
intrinsic musical
qualities and as a
crucial reference point
for English music of the
period. It is by far the
largest of Draghi's
surviving works; its rich
Italianate scoring
includes a pair of
trumpets (their first
known appearance in an
English choral work), and
features concerto-like
contrasts between voices
and instruments. Greatly
expanding on its models
of court and Cecilian
ode, From Harmony
testifies both to
Draghi's reputation
amongst his English
contemporaries, and to
his influence in style,
form and instrumentation
on the composer of
Hail! bright
Cecilia and The
Yorkshire Feast Song
(included in the new PE1)
in particular.
Shir Harmony
