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Concert

Tenebrae for the Saturday of Holy Week

The Lamentations of Cristóbal de Morales (1500-53) were sung in the Sistine Chapel.

The Saturday of Holy Week, two o’clock in the morning. In churches and chapels throughout Christendom the Passion of Jesus Christ was commemorated at the combined Offices of Matins and Lauds. The service is marked by the extinction of the candles, one by one, until complete darkness after the Miserere… The rest is sung ‘in tenebris’, hence the name Tenebrae. The Tenebrae ceremonial has been the same since the Middle Ages, and the singing, notably of the setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which were very popular as a Baroque form, is amongst the most moving of all sacred music.In sixteenth-century Rome, the Lamentations of Cristóbal de Morales (1500-53) were sung in the Sistine Chapel. This famous Spanish composer was himself a member of the Papal Choir in Rome. This magnificent and very captivating music serves as the basis for another liturgical reconstruction by Doulce Mémoire, after the Requiem for the Kings of France.

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Cast

Anne Delafosse, soprano
Paulin Bündgen, alto
Vincent Bouchot, tenor
Hugues Primard, tenor
Marc Mauillon, baritone
Marc Busnel, bass
Philippe Roche, bass

Jérémie Papasergio, recorders
Elsa Frank, shawms, recorders
Francis Mercet, recorders
Johanne Maître, recorders
Denis Raisin Dadre, recorders and artistic direction

In the Press

“This recording is inspired from beginning to end. The programme notes are comprehensive, instructive, fascinating, and include delightful period notations (…). The interpretation shows humility and seriousness, purity and mysticism, notably through the choice of a perfectly peaceful tempo. The idea of alternating plainchant sequences and polyphonic motets is an excellent idea, and the polyphony is constantly renewed. Finally, and above all, the music of Morales (born in Seville in 1500) is amazingly beautiful.”
Le Monde de la Musique, Jacques Amblard