Ode For St. Cecilia's Day

Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, composed by Georg Friedrich Händel in 1739, is a baroque masterpiece set to poetry by John Dryden. The composition was created to celebrate the patron saint of music and reflects the eighteenth-century tradition of using grand choral works to demonstrate the technical skill of contemporary performers and the power of musical harmony.

This 1951 Urania Records release, catalog number URLP 7023, represents the post-war German classical recording tradition. Featuring the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under the baton of Artur Rother, the production highlights the efforts of Urania to bring mid-century European performances to an international audience. The design and pressing serve as a document of the period’s effort to preserve classical canon through the burgeoning long-play vinyl format.