St Cecilia was taken as the patron of church music, and towards the end of the seventeenth century her day began to be kept with a yearly entertainment at Stationers’ Hall in London, preceded by an ode set to music. Purcell and Blow wrote the settings, and Dryden, Pope, Addison and many lesser poets wrote odes for her. The London feast is last heard of in 1703, but Oxford kept the day longer with performances at St Mary Hall. In Hone’s time the Cecilian Society still gave a grand concert on the day.
St Cecilia’s feast
22 November · Stationers' Hall, London
No longer kept
About the end of the seventeenth century, the practice was introduced of having concerts on St Cecilia's Day, the 22d of November.
From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 2, p. 604; Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 2, cols. 1567-1568; Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 1, col. 1496. Read the original
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