{"id":2080,"date":"2021-03-30T08:26:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T07:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/databassist.com\/music\/?p=2080"},"modified":"2021-03-30T08:48:31","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T07:48:31","slug":"these-sacred-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/databassist.com\/music\/archives\/2080","title":{"rendered":"These sacred hands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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<\/em> (‘The most holy limbs of our suffering Jesus’), composed in L\u00fcbeck by Dietrich Buxtehude (c<\/em>1637-1707). Buxtehude’s manuscript of the work is dated 1680 and dedicated to his friend Gustaf D\u00fcben, director of music at the Swedish court and the German church in Stockholm, in whose personal music collection it was preserved. The cantatas each present a portion of the medieval poem Salve mundi salutare<\/em> (once attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux but probably by Arnulf of Leuven) as a meditation that addresses, in turn, Christ’s feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart and face. Although for today we single out the third work, Ad manus<\/em>, all seven are music crafted similarly, with delicate features delivered largely through solo expression that helps the listener to internalize and apply the texts. They follow a structure in common. Each has a Biblical quotation as a rhetorical framing device, a concerto <\/em>sung both before and after the portion of the poem: for Ad manus<\/em> it is Zechariah 13:6, What are these wounds in the middle of your hands?<\/em> In every case the portion of the poem itself is set as an aria in three strophes, where each strophe is followed by an instrumental ritornello<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Although this unique composition may be claimed to be Lutheran (both Buxtehude and D\u00fcben worked for Protestant churches), it’s a fine example of just how permeable the cultural parameters of European music were at the time, and how devotional music that was not liturgical could transcend technical norms and escape religious conformity. The predominant style to be heard here\u2014especially in this beautiful strophic aria in triple metre, with ritornellos\u2014is that of the secular cantatas of Giacomo Carrissimi from faraway Rome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concerto:\nWhat are these wounds in the middle of your hands?<\/em><\/font>\n\nAria:\nHail Jesus, Good Shepherd,\nexhausted by the agony,\nas you were tortured on the cross,\nand to its wood nailed,\nyour sacred hands outstretched.<\/font>\n- ritornello -\n\nBlessed hands, I embrace you,\nand delight in weeping on you.\nI offer thanks for the beatings, \nthe nails, the sacred drops of blood,\nmingling my tears with kisses.<\/font>\n- ritornello -\n\nWashed in your blood\nI put myself wholly in your trust.\nMay these sacred hands of yours\nprotect me, Jesu Christ,\nin times of greatest peril.<\/font>\n- ritornello -\n\nConcerto:\nWhat are these wounds in the middle of your hands?<\/em><\/font><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Concerto:\nQuid sunt plagae istae in medio manuum tuarum?<\/em>\n\nAria: <\/em>\nSalve Jesu pastor bone, <\/em>\nFatigatus in agone<\/em>\nQui per lignum es distractus <\/em>\nEt ad lignum es compactus <\/em>\nExpansis sanctis manibus.<\/em>\n- ritornello -\n\nManus sanctae, vos amplector\nEt gemendo condelector\nGrates ago plagis tantis\nClavis duris, guttis sanctis\nDans lacrimas cum osculis.\n<\/em>- ritornello -\n\nIn cruore tuo lotum\nMe commendo tibi totum.\nTuae sanctae manus istae\nMe defendant, Jesu Christe\nExtremis in periculis.\n<\/em>- ritornello -\n\nConcerto: <\/em>\nQuid sunt plagae istae in medio manuum tuarum?<\/em><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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* *  This post, on Tuesday of Holy Week, is in a series for Lent to Easter, 2021<\/a><\/em> * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n