The Italian Association of Saint Cecilia and Brazil

From the report

as Consiliarius of the

Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae (CIMS)

to the Cultural Secretariat and organizations of São Paulo

On Sunday, June 22, 1980, the feast day of Saint Cecilia, the Italian Association of Saint Cecilia celebrated its 100th anniversary in Cologne. As a city with a large Italian community, Cologne offered a particularly suitable location for this centenary celebration. It took place within the framework of the 7th International Congress of Sacred Music, which was being held in Cologne, Bonn, and Maria Laach. In September, the official celebrations were to take place in Rome with the 23rd National Congress of Sacred Music and the 7th National Conference of Scholae Cantorum. The Pope was to celebrate Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, which thousands of Italian singers would attend.

The Cantori di Santomio provided musical accompaniment with Lorenzo Perosi's Ecce Sacerdos Magnus. This choir, directed by Piergiorgio Righele, consisted of singers trained in the Cecilian ideals. Cecilians were present at the Pontifical Mass, led by Monsignor Mario Vieri, Vice President of the Association, and Father Emidio Papinutti, the General Secretary. The Mass was framed by the Missa Brevis by Andrea Gabrieli (1510-1586). Rudolf Walter was the organist. The Te Deum was sung at the end, alternating with Versetti by Orazio Vecchi (1550-1605).

After the Mass, songs and dances from various regions of Italy were performed in the cathedral square by the Cantori di Santomio (Vicenza), the Coro Friuli, and the Siciliano folklore group. At 5:00 p.m., a Marian ritual took place in the Church of the Assumption of Mary, featuring the Pueri Cantores of Liumburg Cathedral, the choir of Mainz Cathedral, and the Cantori di Santomio (Vicenza). Organist Albert Richenhagen improvised on motifs from the Gregorian antiphon Salve Sancta Parens to open the ritual. Between the musical performances, he interpreted Ave Maris Stella by Girolamo Cavazzoni and Tema e Variazioni by Marco Enrico Bossi (1861-1925). During the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the Cantori di Santomio sang O sacrum convivium by Lorenzo Perosi (1872-1956) and Tantum ergo by Licinio Refice (1885-1954). After the blessing, the entire congregation sang the traditional Italian hymn "Mira il tuo populo."

For the first time, an entire day was dedicated to the Cecilian movement – Giornata Ceciliana – as part of an International Congress of Sacred Music. This gave special recognition to a national association actively participating in an international movement. E. Papinutti reminds us that the Cecilian movement originated in regions formerly under the cultural influence of Germany. While a Congregazione di S. Cecilia existed in Rome as early as 1584, the impetus for a reform of sacred music in the 19th century came from German-speaking lands. Milan and Cividale del Friuli were its centers of influence. German bishops who came to Rome for the First Vatican Council petitioned Pius IX for the approval of the Associazione di musica sacra, which had formed in German-speaking countries and was similar to the Roman Congregation of S. Cecilia. The aim was to remove the secular elements from sacred music that had crept in over time. Pius XI approved the German association on December 16, 1870, in his apostolic letter Multum ad movendos animos. Italian musicians immediately felt the need to establish a similar association.

In 1874, at the First Italian Catholic Congress in Venice, the Milanese D. Guerrino Amelli emphasized the urgent need for a thorough reform of church music and proposed the publication of a journal of church music, the founding of a Cecilian Association, and a school of church music. In Cividale, Monsignor Jacopo Tomadini—the "Palestrina of the 19th century"—highlighted classical polyphony as a model for church music suitable for the liturgy. In 1877, the journal Musica sacra, edited by Amelli and Tomadini, was launched in Milan. On September 4, 1980, the Associazione Italiana Santa Cecilia was established in Milan under the chairmanship of Amelli and Tomadini.