NOTES
From the Early Middle Ages, Holy Week, one of the most solemn periods of the Christian year, has provided the context for extraordinary musical events. The singing of the passion story according to the evangelists has constituted one of the bestknown of these special events. The chanting of passages from the Lamentations of Jeremiah on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday as part of the monastic nocturnal service of Matins has constituted another. On each of these days, three lamentation lessons are sung, the texts for which became standardized with the Council of Trent in the middle of the sixteenth century.
The texts for lamentation lessons are unusual in two respects. First, each lesson ends with the nonBiblical sentence “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum, " ie., Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn to the Lord thy God. Second, within each lesson, all the verses are preceded by letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The retention of Hebrew letters within the context of a basically Latin text stems from the existence of an acrostic which is immediately apparent if the Lamentations of Jeremiah are read in Hebrew: a listing of the first letter of the first words of successive verses results in the Hebrew alphabet.
The earliest polyphonic lamentation lessons date from the fifteenth century. Most of the great composers of Renaissance sacred music have left some settings of these specialized motets.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1524-1594) wrote at least thirteen complete sets of lamentation lessons. He spent most of his life in and around Rome and the Vatican serving primarily as a singer, choirmaster, and composer. In Rome he was associated with the Cappella Liberiana at Santa Maria Maggiore, the Church of St. John Lateran, and the Roman Seminary; at the Vatican he served in the Julian Chapel and in the Pontifical Choir; he was also occasionally responsible for the concerts given for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este at Tivoli. In a letter to a a friend, Palestrina wrote that music should "give a Iiving spirit to the text."
In the lamentation lesson presented here, one senses strongly the superb balances for which Palestrina is so renowned balances between contrapuntal and chordal sections, between twopart, three-part, and four-part textures, and between consonance and dissonance. One promi nent feature of this piece is the madrigalesque care taken in setting phrases which include the word "falsa (s) " meaning "incorrect." The word first appears in a vocal duet where four suspensions are linked to lead the listener to an unexpected tonal level. The word reappears later in a four-part texture and is set to a glaring dissonance. The long melismas to which the Hebrew letters Lamed, Mem, and Nun are set result in particularly gorgeous passages.
Lamed Matribus suis dixerunt: ubi est triticum et
Vinum ? cum defcerent quasi vulnerati in plateis civitatis: cum exhalarent animas suas in sinu matrum Suarum
Mem. Cui comparabote ? vel cui assimilabote flia Jerusalem? cui exaequabote, et consolaborte virgo ilia Sion? Magna est enim velut mare contritio tua: quis me debitur tui?
Nun. Prophetae tui viderunt tibi falsa et stulta, nec aperiebant iniquitatem tuam, ut te ad poenitentiam provocarent: viderunt autem tibi assumptiones falsas et ejectiones.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum.
They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine ?" as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, 4s their life is poured out on on their mothers' bosom. (Lam. 2:i2)
What can I say for you, to wbat compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem ? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? Por vast as the sea is your ruin; wbo can restore you? (Lam, 2:13)
Your prophets have seen for you false and decep. tive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but bave seen for you oracles false and misleading. Lam. (2:14)
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn to the Lord thy God
Claudin de Sermisy (c 1490-1562) is best-known as a composer of French chansons, and in particular, Parisian chansons. He was employed both by Louis XIl as a singer and by François I as an assistant musical director. In 1533 he was made a canon of Sainte Chappelle in Paris. It was perhaps in this latter capacity that he wrote the lamentation lesson presented here, a lesson published by Attaignant in 1535. Sermisy bases this lesson on the corresponding Gregorian chant, presenting the chant in the contratenor in long note values at the beginning of each Hebrew letter and each verse. As the setting of the letter or verse continues, the chant is treated increasingly freely. For the concluding Jerusalem section, Sermisy transfers the borrowed chant to the bass part This final section also contains an unusual harmonic feature: Claudin sets the text "convertere ad Dominum" to an AMinor sonority which is repeated persistently for about ten seconds before the harmony moves rapidly to a chord based on Eb an odd juxtaposition of sound
Zain. Candidiores Nazarei ejus nive nitidiores lacte, rubicundiores ebore antiquo, sapphiro pulchriores
Heth. Denigrata est super carbones facies eorum, et non sunt cogniti in plateis: Ad haesit cutis eorum ossibus aruit, et facta est quasi lignum.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum.
Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire (Lam 4:7)
Now their visage is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets ; their skin has shriveled upon their bones, it has become as dry as wood. (Lam. 4:8)
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn to the Lord thy God
William Byrd (1543-1623) was the greatest British composer of sacred music in the Renaissance. Although a Catholic all his life, he was so favored by
Queen Elizabeth that he was permitted to be employed by the Anglican Church and, in fact, held several Anglican posts during his lifetime. In 1575
Elizabeth granted jointly to Byrd and to Thomas
Tallis a twenty-one year monopoly with respect to the printing of music and of music paper in England.
Byrd had served as organist in Lincoln Cathedral from 1563 to 1572; in 1570 he had become a Gentleman of the Royal Chapel where in 1572 he began to share with Thormas Tallis the organist's responsibilities.
In the lamentation lesson presented here, one senses that Byrd is pushing many musical parameters to expressivé limits. The setting is à 5 with the range of the outer parts pushed to the extremes if performance by tenors and basses was intended: the Superius often enters on high G, A, or even Bb while the Bassus descends several times to low D and Eb, The texture is consistently
contrapuntal, most often with lengthy points of imitation, but with shorter points near the ends of verses. The sound is generally thick because fivepart texture predominates. The Hebrew letters Teth and Jod receive particularly in tricate settings as the rhythmic values are generally much shorter than those which predominate in other sections of the lesson Harmonically, this lamentation setting is much richer than any other on this recording. Dissonance in the form of suspensions and crossrelations abounds, and many notes are altered chromatically, effectively shattering any feeling for mode throughout extended passages.
De lamentatione Jeremiae Prophetae.
Heth Cogitavit Dominus dissipare murum filiae Sion: tetendit funiculum suum et non avertit manum suam a perditione.
Teth. Defixae sunt in terrae portae ejus: perdidit, et contrivit vectes ejus: regem ejus et principem ejus in gentibus
Jod. Sederunt in terra, conticuerunt senes filiae Sion, consperserunt cinere capita sua
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum
From the Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet
The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the danghier of Zion; be marked it off by the line; be restrained not bis band from destroying (Lam 2:8)
Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her kind and princes are among the nations (Lam 2:9)
The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have cast dust on their heads (Lam 2:10)
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn to the Lord thy God
Although Jacobus Arcadelt (c. 1504 - c. 1567) is known to music historians chiely for his role in the development of the Italian madrigal, he also wrote much religious music. In 1539 he became a member of both the Julian Chapel and the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, and later he served in the Royal Chapel of France. As in the Byrd Lamentations, the predominant texture here is à 5, but à there is no feeling that anything is being pushed to limits. the five-part texture is relieved by a substantially long section à 4 beginning with the text "O vos omnes, which is in turn relieved by a section à 3 beginning with the text ""Quoniam vindemiavit" before the "Jerusalem'" section returns us to five-part texture Arcadelt builds his lesson on the corresponding Gregorian chant which is assigned to an inner part, usually in long note values; in the section à 3, the chant appears in the highest part.
Caph. Defecerunt prae lacrimis oculi mei, et contur bata sunt viscera mea, effusum est in terra jecur meum super contritione filiae populi mei, cum defi ceret parvulus et lactens in plateis oppidi.
Lamed. 0, vos omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte si est dolor sicut dolor mneus. Quoniam vindemiavit me, ut locutus est Dominus in die irae furoris sui Jersalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum. My eyes are spent with weeping: my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured ont in grief because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. (Lam. 2:11)
"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger. (Lam 1:12)
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn to the Lord your God.
Harmonically, the Hebrew letter Lamed receives an astoundingly rich setting.
Elzear Genet (c. 1470-1548), also known as Carpentras, spent most of his life in the service of various Popes although he is known to have been associated with the court of Louis XII some time between 1508 and 1513. Four books of his sacred compositions were published in the mid 1530's, one of which was devoted entirely to lamentation settings. Unlike the reputations of the other composers represented on this recording, Genet's reputa tion was founded primarily on the beauty of his lamentation lessons. Indeed, they were the most reprinted lamentation settings of the sixteenth century and were the most favored in the Papal chapels until Palestrina's settings eventually
usurped their place of honor The most striking aspects of Genet's lesson are its generally high tessitura, its lengthy setting of the Hebrew letter Mem with its verse as a low duet followed by a high duet, and its predominantly chordal sound. Only the Hebrew letters and the "De excelso'" duet are set in a fundamentally contrapuntal fashion, This lesson is also characterized by chordal patterns which reappear several times in the course of the piece, thereby serving as unifying features
Caph, Omnis populus eius gemens et quaerens panem: Dederunt pretiosa quaeque procibo ad refocillandum animam. Vide, Domine, et considera, quoniam facta sum vilis.
Lamed. 0 vos omnes qui transitis per víam, attendite et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus. Quoniam vindemiavit me, ut locutus est Dominus in die irae furoris sui
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum
All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength "Look, 0 Lord, and bebold, for I am despised. '"' (Lam. 1;11)
"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was brought upon me, which the Lord in flicted on the day of his fierce anger. (Lam 1:12)
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn to the Lord thy God.
Antoine Brumel (c 1460 - c 1520) is known to have been employed at Chartres Cathedral in 1483. He was a choir member at Laon Cathedral in 1497 and served as a canon at Notre Dame in Paris between 1498 and 1500. Later he worked for the Duke of Sora at Lyon and probably spent the last years of his life as music director for the Duke of Ferrara The lamentation lesson presented here is the only one Brumel is known to have written. He has incorporated Gregorian chant into this à 4 setting, generally in the second highest part. Brumel's setting is similar to that of Genet because the predominant sound is chordal, but also contrasts strongly with it because the tessitura is generally very low. An unexpected rhythmic flowering takes place on the phrase "'effusum est in terra jecur meum. "
Heth Cogitavit Dominus dissipare murum filiae Sion tetendit funiculum suum, et non avertit manum suam a perditione: luxitque ante murale et mnurus pariter dissipatus est
Caph. Defecerunt prae lacrimis oculi mei, conturbata sunt viscera mea, effusam est in terra jecur meum super contritione filiae populi mei, cum deficeret par vulus et lactens in plateis oppidi.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum.
The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daugbter of Zion; he marked it of by the line; he restrained not his hand from destroying ; be caused rampart and wall to lament, they languish together. (Lam. 2:8)
My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. (Lam. 2:11)
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn to the Lord thy God
-F. JOHN ADAMS
The Harvard Glee Club
Founded in 1858, the Harvard Glee Club is the nation's oldest collegiate chorus. Under the leadership of Archibald T. Davison in the early twentieth century, the club began to build a repertoire based on the best in choral music, Two events in particular established the group permanently as a respected member of the American musical communíty: in 1917 the club made its initial appearance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and in 1921 the Harvard Glee Club, at the invitation of the French government, became the first American college chorus to tour Europe.
While under G. Wallace Woodworth, who becarne conductor in 1934, Elliot Forbes, who succeeded M. Woodworth in 1958, and F. John Adams, who becarne conductor in 1970, the Harvard Glee Club has appeared almost annually with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has made dozens of tours in this country and abroad, and has been directed by such distinguished musicians as Nadia Boulanger,
Leonard Bernstein, Serge Koussevitsky, Erich
Leinsdorf, Pierre Monteux, Charles Munch, Seiji Osawa, Robert Shaw, William Steinberg, Leopold Stokowski, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Many recordings have been produced including Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust which won the Grand Prix du Disque in 1955, and more recently, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein. The club's present conductor, F. John Adams, a former Glee Club accompanist and assistant conductor, received his doctorate in music from Harvard and has studied conducting both at Fontainebleau under Nadia Boulanger 2nd at Boston under Frederick Prausnitz of the New England Conservatory. Dr. Adams has placed increased emphasis on the sacred music of the Renaissance It was largely on the basis of this repertoire that in June of 1973, the Glee Club embarked on a ten-week concert tour of Europe which began in the Vatican with a concert for Pope Paul VI. The recording at hand is a further indica tion of the Harvard Glee Club's concentration on the great sacred Renaissance works originally written for low voices.
Recorded in May 1974, St Paul’s Church Cambridge, MA
Recording engineer: David Greisinger
HT E MUSICALHERITAGESOC I E YT EST. 1960 Additional information about these recordings can be found at our website www.themusicalheritagesociety.com All recordings ℗ 1975 & © 2024 Heritage Music Royalties.
