Cecilian Movement

CECILIAN MOVEMENT. - An organization of devotees and supporters of church music; it took its name from St. Cecilia, commonly invoked and venerated as the patroness of music. In Rome there exist the Accademia di S. Cecilia and the Conservatorio di S. Cecilia, which are two institutions for musical training. The Cecilian movement originated as a reaction against the abuses and profanations of style and of performances of sacred music, which in the 19th century was no longer distinguishable from the profane music of the theater, having completely lost the spirit of the Catholic liturgy. Gregorian chant was either forgotten or badly performed, ancient polyphonic music had given way to new forms of religious music of a lyrical character, with extensive accompaniment by every kind of musical instrument, in a worldly style unworthy of the seriousness of the liturgy and of the temple. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic period (1789-1815) dealt the final blow to the classical tradition by destroying monasteries, chapters, and musical chapels, and by aiding the artistic profanation of the temple.

In 1785 the Anglican Cecilian Society had arisen in London, but it was an academy for spreading the cult of music through popular concerts. The first Society of St. Cecilia was founded in Munich with the music school of G. Ett (1788-1847) and of G. Aiblinger (1779-1867), which was then continued at Regensburg by C. Proske (1794-1861) and by his collaborators Haberl, Haller, Renner, etc. From Bavaria the reform movement spread to Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium, above all through the efforts of F. X. Witt (1834-88), who in 1868 founded at Bamberg the Cäcilien-Verein for the German-speaking countries. The vast program of reform of sacred music advocated by these national societies received the full approval of the Holy See, but encountered many and grave difficulties; nevertheless the propaganda, both artistic and disciplinary, was promoted with numerous periodical publications, which disinterred and illustrated the ancient classical music, gave instructions and practical rules, promoted meetings and discussions, and disseminated much new music inspired by the dignity and the requirements of worship. In Holland, Belgium, England, France, and the Americas the Cecilian movement also had a great development, and the reflowering of the Benedictine monasteries brought about a strong revival of the study and practice of Gregorian chant. In this field the school of the Benedictines of Solesmes (France) distinguished itself, undertaking the critical revision of all the musical texts of the liturgical books. In Italy the reform of sacred music encountered greater difficulties than elsewhere; its first bold advocate was the Milanese Ambrogio M. Amelli (1848-1930; v.), a doctor of the Ambrosiana, then a monk (1885) and Benedictine abbot. He advocated the reform at the Catholic congresses (1874-77); in 1877 he founded and directed the journal Musica sacra, and in the same year, with a few friends, the Italian Association of St. Cecilia, which held its first congress at Milan in 1880, and in 1882 the famous Congress of Arezzo for Gregorian chant. In 1884 the first Regolamento per la musica sacra of the Sacred Congregation of Rites appeared, which became the juridical basis of the Cecilian movement. Amelli, having become a Cassinese monk, was succeeded by the Jesuit Angelo De Santi (1847-1922), who from 1909 was president of the revived Italian Association of St. Cecilia, which has as its official organ the Bollettino ceciliano. In 1910 he promoted the establishment in Rome of a Higher School of Sacred Music, now the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, and the national congresses of Milan, Turin, Bergamo, Vicenza, and Rome, which gave great impetus to the propaganda.

Paolo Guerrini