The work grew out of the first collaboration between Aita Donostia and the French writer and playwright Henri Ghéon, a key figure in the renewal of Catholic theatre in France during the early decades of the twentieth century. Their encounter gave rise to an ambitious project of religious and musical theatre, of which Les trois miracles de Sainte Cécile was one of the earliest results.

Originally composed for string orchestra, piano, organ, harp and women’s choir, the score reveals an Aita Donostia fully engaged with the new European musical currents of his time. Its language shows a clear influence of French music, and particularly of Claude Debussy, both in its treatment of instrumental colour and in its harmonic richness.

Across its six movements, Donostia creates a highly refined sound world in which modernity, spirituality and tradition are in constant dialogue. One of the most significant examples appears in the Prélude du 3e Miracle, where he incorporates the Gregorian melody In paradisum into a modern harmonic language, creating a particularly evocative link between liturgical chant and the musical sensibility of the early twentieth century.

Ghéon’s play is structured in three tableaux. Most of the musical movements illustrate the first tableau, while the fifth was conceived as a prelude to the third. All the numbers are instrumental except for the final movement, Chœur des Anges, in which the women’s choir sings a fragment of Ghéon’s text.

The importance Aita Donostia attached to this work is also reflected in the fact that he later prepared an expanded version for large orchestra, clearly showing his wish to give the score greater projection within the field of religious musical theatre.

More than a century after its Paris premiere, OE Oficina now publishes the first edition of Les trois miracles de Sainte Cécile, making the score available to performers, researchers, programmers and audiences interested in discovering a particularly innovative side of Aita Donostia.

The publication is now available on the OE Oficina website.