Tenebrae Responsoria (Gesualdo)

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Title page of Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsoria

Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia is a musical work by Italian composer Carlo Gesualdo, published in 1611. The work consists of 9 short pieces written for unaccompanied voices: two soprano parts, alto, two tenor parts, and bass. The work could be performed by six individuals, but is more usually sung with a few voices per part. Total performance time is about an hour.

The text of the work is settings from the Passion, the narrative of Jesus's trial, torture, execution and burial. The pieces are stylistically madrigali spirituali - madrigals on sacred texts. As in Gesualdo's later books of madrigals, he uses particularly sharp dissonance and shocking chromatic juxtapositions, especially in the parts highlighting text passages having to do with Christ's suffering, or the guilt of St. Peter in having betrayed Jesus.

Content

File:Gesualdo - Tristis est anima mea 1.PNG

"Vos fugam..." part from I,2 Tristis est anima mea

File:Gesualdo - Tristis est anima mea 2.PNG

"et ego vadam..." part from I,2 Tristis est anima mea

File:Gesualdo - Quia in te occisus est Salvator.PNG

"Quia in te occisus est Salvator..." part from III, 2 Jerusalem surge

File:Quia in te occisus est Cercle des quintes.svg

Mode shifts in "Quia in te occisus est Salvator..." (see previous example)

File:Gesualdo - Plange quasi Virgo Plebs mea.PNG

Beginning of III, 3 Plange quasi virgo

File:Gesualdo - Plange quasi Virgo fin.PNG

End of III, 3 Plange quasi virgo

File:Gesualdo - Attendite et videte.PNG

"Attendite..." part of III, 5 O vos omnes

1. Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday
   1. In monte Oliveti
   2. Tristis est anima mea

      Alex Ross writes about Gesualdo's setting of this responsory: "... begins with desolate, drooping figures that conjure Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane (“My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death”). It then accelerates into frenzied motion, suggesting the fury of the mob and the flight of Jesus’ disciples. There follows music of profound loneliness, radiant chords punctured by aching dissonances, as Jesus says, “I will go to be sacrificed for you.” The movement from inner to outer landscape, from chromatic counterpoint to block harmonies, humanizes Jesus in a way that calls to mind Caravaggio’s New Testament paintings of the same period, with their collisions of dark and light."

   3. Ecce vidimus eum
   4. Amicus meus osculi
   5. Judas mercator pessimus
   6. Unus ex discipulis meis
   7. Eram quasi agnus innocens
   8. Una hora non potuistis
   9. Seniores populi consilium
2. Tenebrae Responsories for Good Friday
   1. Omnes amici mei dereliquerunt me et praevaluerunt insidiantes mihi
   2. Velum templi scissum est
   3. Vinea mea electa, ego te plantavi
   4. Tamquam ad latronem existis cum gladiis et fustibus cemprehendere me
   5. Tenebrae factae sunt, dum crucifixissent Jesum Judaei
   6. Animam meam dilectam tradidi in manus iniquorum
   7. Tradiderunt me in manus impiorum
   8. Jesum tradidit impius summis pricipibus sacerdotum, et senioribus populi
   9. Caligaverunt oculi mei fletu meo
3. Tenebrae Responsories for Holy Saturday
   1. Sicut ovis ad occisionem
   2. Jerusalem, surge
   3. Plange quasi virgo
   4. Recessit pastor noster
   5. O vos omnes
   6. Ecce quomodo moritur justus
   7. Astiterunt reges terrae
   8. Aestimatus sum
   9. Sepulto Domino
4. "et alia" – settings of:
   1. Miserere mei, Deus (Psalm 51)
   2. Benedictus (Luke 1:68–79)

For the Lauds of Holy Week

Publication of the score

• Carlo Gesualdo, Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia, Giovanni Giacomo Carlino (Ioannes Iacobus Carlinus), 1611.
• Wilhelm Weismann and Glenn Watkins (editors). Tenebrae Responsoria in Carlo Gesualdo: Sämtliche Werke. Hamburg, Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1957-1967.

Recordings

• Gesualdo : Tenebrae Responsories, A Sei Voci, 2CD Erato 97411; Warner Classics 2564 62782 (1984-1986)
• Gesualdo : Tenebrae, The Hilliard Ensemble, ECM New Series 1422/23 843 867 (1991)
• La Compagnia del Madrigale (complete)
• Ensemble Arte Musica, Francesco Cera
• Ensemble De Labyrintho, Walter Testolin
• Responsoria for Maundy Thursday:
  • The King's Singers, Signum SIGCD048 (2004)
• Responsoria for Good Friday:
  • Taverner Consort & Choir, direction Andrew Parrott, Sony Classical SK62977 (2000)
• Responsoria for Holy Saturday
  • Ensemble Vocal Européen, direction Philippe Herreweghe, Harmonia Mundi France HMF790120 (1990)
  • Tenebrae Responsories for Holy Saturday, The Tallis Scholars, direction Peter Phillips, Gimell, CDGIM 015 (1987)

Sources

• List of works by Carlo Gesualdo: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

External links

• Free scores of Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday by Carlo Gesualdo in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores of Tenebrae Responsories for Holy Friday by Carlo Gesualdo in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores of Tenebrae Responsories for Holy Saturday by Carlo Gesualdo in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)