Cecilian Movement

A 19th-century Catholic reform movement that sought to renew church music through Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony, especially the works of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

Allgemeiner Cäcilien-Verband: A Catholic association founded in Germany to promote reform of church music. It gave the movement a durable organization, founded by Franz Xaver Witt in 1868.
Gregorian chant: The repertory of unaccompanied liturgical song developed for the Latin rites of the Western Church. Cecilians treated chant as the primary model for restoring worship music.
Tra le sollecitudini: A 1903 motu proprio by Pope Pius X on music in Catholic worship. Its demands for chant, polyphony, and liturgical propriety closely echoed Cecilian principles.
Italian opera: A tradition of opera composed and performed in Italian, especially prominent from the 17th century onward. Cecilian reformers rejected operatic display as a model for Catholic liturgical music.
Franz Xaver Witt: A German Catholic priest and musician who organized the Cecilian reform movement. His organizing work and writings helped turn musical ideals into a German reform campaign.
Palestrina style: A style of Renaissance polyphony associated with clear counterpoint and smooth vocal lines. The movement held this style up as a model for composed liturgical music.
Pius X: Pope of the Catholic Church from 1903 to 1914, known for reforms to liturgy and church music. He turned several Cecilian goals into authoritative Catholic music policy.
Cecilian reform and church music in the 19th century: A historical account of competing approaches to Catholic church music during the 19th century. It places Cecilian ideals beside the instrumental and theatrical practices they opposed.
Cecilia: A Roman martyr traditionally venerated as the patron saint of music. Her patronage supplied the movement with its name and a Catholic symbol for sacred music.
A cappella: Vocal music performed without instrumental accompaniment. Cecilian reform often favored unaccompanied singing over orchestral church music.

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