Tenebrae responsories are the responsory sung following the lessons of Tenebrae, the Matins services of the last three days of Holy Week: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. polyphony settings to replace plainchant have been published under a various titles, including Responsoria pro hebdomada sancta ( Responsories for Holy Week).
In most places, Matins as well as Lauds of these days were normally anticipated on the evening of the preceding day and were celebrated on Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, respectively. The 1955 reform of the Holy Week ceremonies by Pope Pius XII, redefining Triduum Sacrum to include Easter Sunday and take in only the close of Maundy Thursday, moved them to Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Tenebrae as such was not included in the 1970 Liturgy of the Hours, vanishing altogether around 1977. Summorum Pontificum (2007) now permits clerics bound to recitation of the Divine Office to use the 1961 Roman Breviary.[ Frederick Aquilina, Benigno Zerafa (1726-1804) and the Neapolitan Galant Style (Boydell & Brewer, 2016), p. 74][ Thomas Pope, Holy Week in the Vatican (Dublin 1874), p. 70]
Composers who produced polyphonic settings include Carlo Gesualdo ( Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia, 1611, Jean L'Héritier, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, 19 settings (H.111 -119, H.126 - 134 and H.144), Joseph Haydn (Hob XXIIb), Jan Dismas Zelenka (ZWV 55), Max Reger and Francis Poulenc.
The responsories
Within the liturgy, each responsory followed a reading. Each day's
matins was divided into three
. The first nocturn had three readings from
Jeremiah's Book of Lamentations, and the second nocturn three readings from one or other of
Saint Augustine's commentaries on the Psalms. The three readings of the third nocturn were from the First Epistle to the Corinthians on Maundy Thursday, from the Epistle to the Hebrews on the other two days.
Over the three days, therefore, the responsories, like the readings, came to a total of 27. Since the polyphonic Lamentations were an important musical genre in their own right, many collections (such as Victoria's Officium Hebdomadae sanctae 1585) include only the 18 Responsories of the second and third nocturns. Gesualdo, who set all 27, also includes a Miserere and Benedictus for Lauds, and a few composers (Fabrizio Dentice and Tiburtio Massaino) set these last three times each, one setting for each day.
Maundy Thursday responsories
Maundy Thursday is called in Latin
Feria V/Quinta in Cena Domini (an older spelling has
Coena instead of
Cena), meaning Thursday (fifth day of the week) of the
Last Supper. Compositions for its nine responsories can therefore appear under such titles as
Feria V – In Coena Domini. They can also be named by the day on which they were actually sung, as Charpentier's
Les neuf répons du mercredi saint ("The nine responsories of Holy Wednesday").
Responsories of the first nocturn of Maundy Thursday
The three readings of the first nocturn of Maundy Thursday are Lamentations 1:1–5, 1:6–9 and 1:10–14.
In monte Oliveti
The first Maundy Thursday responsory refers to the Agony of Christ in
Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Premier répons après la première leçon du premier nocturne, H.111, for 3 voices and continuo (1680).
Tristis est anima mea
The second responsory represents
Jesus speaking to his disciples in the garden of
Gethsemane. The first two lines of the responsory are . The last two lines of are more freely based on different Gospel passages, including Mark 14:50 and Luke 24:7.
Settings of this responsory include a motet by Orlande de Lassus, appearing as No. 1 in the Drexel 4302 manuscript, a SSATB motet attributed to Johann Kuhnau, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, 2 settings: Second répons après la seconde leçon du premier nocturne, H.112 (1680), for 2 voices and continuo and Second répons après la seconde leçon du premier nocturne du Mercredi Saint, H.126 (1690), for 2 voices and continuo and a setting as part of Francis Poulenc's Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence.
Ecce, vidimus eum
Responsories of the second nocturn of Maundy Thursday
The readings of the second nocturn of Maundy Thursday are from Saint Augustine's commentary on Psalm 54/55
Amicus meus
Troisième répons après la troisième leçon du premier nocturne, H.113 (1680), for 1 voice and continuo
Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Premier répons après la première leçon du second nocturne du Mercredi Saint, H.127 (1690), for 1 voice , 2 flutes and continuo
Judas mercator pessimus
Second of Poulenc's
Sept répons des ténèbres.
Unus ex discipulis meis
Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Quatrième répons après la première leçon du second nocturne, H.114 (1680), for 2 voices and continuo
Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Troisième répons après la troisième leçon du second nocturne du Mercredi Saint, H.132 (1690), for 1 voice, 2 violins and continuo
Responsories of the third nocturn of Maundy Thursday
The readings of the third nocturn of Maundy Thursday are 1 Corinthians 11:17−22, 11:23−26, 11:27−34
Eram quasi agnus innocens
Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Cinquième répons après la seconde leçon du second nocturne, H.115 (1680), for 1 voice and continuo
Una hora
Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Sixième répons après la troisième leçon du second nocturne, H.116 (1680), for 3 voices and continuo
First of Poulenc's Sept répons des ténèbres.
Seniores populi
Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Septième répons après la première leçon du troisième nocturne, H.117 (1680), for 1 voice and continuo
Responsories of Good Friday
Good Friday,
Feria VI/Sexta in Parasceve, meaning Friday (sixth day of the week) of the Day of Preparation (from
Greek language Παρασκευή). Thus this second set of nine responsories can appear under such titles as
Feria VI – In Parasceve.
Responsories of the first nocturn of Good Friday
The readings of the first nocturn of Good Friday are Lamentations 2:8–11, 2:12–15 and 3:1–9.
Omnes amici mei
Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Répons après la première leçon de ténèbres du Jeudi Saint, H.144 (mid1690), for 1 voice, 2 flutes and continuo
Velum templi scissum est
Marc-Antoine Charpentier
, Second répons après la seconde leçon du premier nocturne du Jeudi Saint, H.128, for soloists, chorus, flutes, strings and continuo (1690)
Vinea mea electa
Second of Poulenc's
Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence.
Responsories of the second nocturn of Good Friday
The readings of the second nocturn of Good Friday are from Saint Augustine's commentary on Psalm 63/64
Tamquam ad latronem existis
Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Premier répons après la première leçon du second nocturne du Jeudi Saint, H.133 (1690), for 1 voice, 2 flutes,, 2 violins and continuo
Tenebrae factae sunt
This responsory is included on p. 269 of the Lutheran
Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch (1682). Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Second répons après la seconde leçon du second nocturne du Jeudi Saint, for 1 voice, flutes, strings and continuo, H.129 (1690).Third of Poulenc's
Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence, and fifth of his
Sept répons des ténèbres
Animam meam dilectam
Responsories of the third nocturn of Good Friday
The readings of the third nocturn of Holy Saturday are taken from –.
Tradiderunt me
Jesum tradidit impius
Third of Poulenc's
Sept répons des ténèbres
Caligaverunt oculi mei
Fourth of Poulenc's
Sept répons des ténèbres
Responsories of Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday,
Sabbato Sancto in
Latin. Responsories for this day can appear under such titles as
Sabbato Sancto.
Responsories of the first nocturn of Holy Saturday
The readings of the first nocturn of Holy Saturday are from Lamentations, 3:22–30, 4:1–6 and 5:1–11.
Sicut ovis
Jerusalem surge
Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Second répons après la seconde leçon du premier nocturne de Vendredi Saint, H.130 (1690), for 2 voices, 2 flutes and continuo
Plange quasi virgo
This responsory has some parallels with the Book of Joel, e.g. "plange quasi virgo" ("Lament like a girl", ), "accingite vos et plangite sacerdotes ululate ministri altaris" ("Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests; Wail, you ministers of the altar", ) and "magnus enim dies Domini et terribilis valde" ("for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome", ).
Responsories of the second nocturn of Holy Saturday
The readings of the second nocturn of Holy Saturday are from Saint Augustine's commentary on Psalm 63/64.
Recessit pastor noster
O vos omnes
The text is adapted from the
Latin Vulgate translation of . Some of the most famous settings of the text are by Tomás Luis de Victoria (two settings for four voices: 1572 and 1585),
Carlo Gesualdo (five voices: 1603; six voices: 1611), Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Second répons après la 1ère leçon du second nocturne du Vendredi saint, H.134, for 1 voice, flutes and continuo (1690) and
Pablo Casals (mixed choir: 1932).
Ecce quomodo moritur justus
Based on . A german version of the text of this responsory is set as
Der Gerechte kömmt um. Poulenc set it as the seventh of his
Sept répons des ténèbres.
Marc-Antoine Charpentier , Troisième répons après la troisième leçon du second nocturne du Vendredi Saint, H.131 (1690), for 1 voice, muted strings and continuo
Responsories of the third nocturn of Holy Saturday
The three readings of the third nocturn of Holy Saturday are , and .
Astiterunt reges terrae
Aestimatus sum
Sepulto Domino
Sixth of Poulenc's
Sept répons des ténèbres
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