Certainly the famous Méditation over the first prelude from Bach’s Well-tempered Clavichord – with the subsequent addition of the words to Ave Maria – has become Charles Gounod’s best-known piece. In the 19th Century, however, one of his other compositions was also very popular: Hymne à Sainte Cécile, a ‘Méditation religieuse’ – in the original version with orchestra (1865) dedicated to his friend Jean Delphin Alard. Gounod had already written one work in honour of the Blessed Cecilia, patron sa...