Da da.... Maundy Thursday

[diegobueno]

Thomas Tallis wrote his Lamentations of Jeremiah in 1560 for Maundy Thursday and that is my go-to music for this day of the liturgical year. If you ask me "what's the most beautiful music ever composed?", this is it.
It's a biblical setting in Latin, but includes the Hebrew letters which mark the verses. It makes frequent use of the bluesy-sounding cross-relations commonly found in English music of the period (around the 4:55 mark). And the sudden shift of mode at the word "Beth" is also noteworthy. But the composite effect of the whole cycle is just heartbreaking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkbrXR9EiXk

[maestrob]

Thomas Tallis wrote his Lamentations of Jeremiah in 1560 for Maundy Thursday and that is my go-to music for this day of the liturgical year. If you ask me "what's the most beautiful music ever composed?", this is it.
It's a biblical setting in Latin, but includes the Hebrew letters which mark the verses. It makes frequent use of the bluesy-sounding cross-relations commonly found in English music of the period (around the 4:55 mark). And the sudden shift of mode at the word "Beth" is also noteworthy. But the composite effect of the whole cycle is just heartbreaking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkbrXR9EiXk

Thanks, Mark. I will surely give it a try.

My own favorite Tallis is the 40-voice "Spem in Alium," which I had the privilege to participate in at Carnegie Hall under the baton of Sir John Aldiss during the 500th Anniversary Celebration of Oxford Musical Press.

Here it is, performed here by the Tallis Scholars:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT-ZAAi4UQQ

[jserraglio]

For me, the olde Gregorian plainsong version resonates from the pre-1955 Tenebrae service in the RC Church I used to attend, iirc, at night on Wed, Thu & Fri of Holy Week.

I remember veiled statues and a cover on the crucifix hanging over the altar. A darkened church. A 15-arm candelabra and a big scary BANG (the strepitus) at the end of a lengthy 2-hour service. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KkuWei-boAs

… along with the Improperia, also sung on Good Friday, iirc: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9kliYYfUyyk