Tag: vocal

The liturgy of Tenebrae, in the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, was until 1955 celebrated at Matins and Lauds over three days, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. In addition to psalms and prayers, it included nine readings on each day, and each reading was followed by an appointed Latin text to be […]

Christians the world over recall the crucifixion of Jesus Christ often, not only on Good Friday. They affirm their beliefs about it, every time Mass or Holy Communion is celebrated, through a particular sentence in the Nicene Creed (the Credo portion of the Mass) that can seem all too brief and matter-of-fact: He was crucified […]

One of the seventeenth century’s most remarkable artistic creations concerning the Passion is the cycle of seven cantatas called Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima (‘The most holy limbs of our suffering Jesus’), composed in Lübeck by Dietrich Buxtehude (c1637-1707). Buxtehude’s manuscript of the work is dated 1680 and dedicated to his friend Gustaf Düben, director […]

This Sunday, the fifth in Lent, is sometimes called ‘Passion Sunday’, marking the start of the two weeks of Passiontide (the second being Holy Week). One of the most loved Passiontide songs is O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig (O Lamb of God, innocent), with a 500-year-old text and an even older tune. Both its words, from […]

Psalm 143, the seventh Penitential Psalm, is a lament seeking protection from oppression and persecution (the full text is here). In the opening verses, sung in this superb anthem by William Byrd, the penitent acknowledges God’s righteousness and begs not to be judged, knowing that the salvation granted to anyone is a gift, not something […]

Psalm 102, the fifth Penitential Psalm, is a lengthy lament (see its 28 verses here). The first part, verses 1-11, is the prayer of an individual who, weak and tearful, worn down in a time of great trouble, pours out his own desperate pleas to God: ‘… Do not hide your face from me … […]