The Rhythm Divine

Good Friday is the darkest day of the Christian calendar, the day of the Crucifixion and death of Christ, so our music this week is tinged with sadness. We hear soprano Dawn Upshaw with the 2nd movement of Gorecki's 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs', and an excerpt from the 'Tenebrae Responses for Good Friday', a work for 6 voices by the brooding and ill-starred Italian Renaissance prince, Gesualdo.

Carlo Gesualdo was one of those astonishing Renaissance noblemen who seemed to have it all. He was the Prince of Venosa in Italy and this gave him the education, the money and the leisure time to write some 140 madrigals during his lifetime. But he lived and died on the edge of madness. In 1590 he punished his wife's adultery by killing her and her lover. This shocking act seems to have weighed heavily on his conscience and in 1611 he composed a work for Holy Week filled with a dark grief, of intense regret.

Gesualdo was lamenting the death of Christ but also I think lamenting his own blighted life, which included a second unsuccessful marriage and the death of his only son in childhood. The work is known as the 'Tenebrae Responses' and it is sacred music with text in Latin for the three days leading up to Easter. Tenebrae is Latin for shadows or darkness and it refers to the darkness of Christ's death but also more literally, this music was written for the church service just as evening was falling when candles would be lit and one by as the evening service and the singing continued the candles would be extinguished, leaving the chapel in darkness.

The music for each day consisted of antiphons and psalms which were chanted and then nine readings from the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, chanted by a single voice, followed by nine responses sung by the six-voice choir. So we'll hear just a portion from the Good Friday service, with the first reading, chanted, from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, followed by its response.

We'll end with two works that take us out of the dark and claustrophobic world of Gesualdo and into the brighter light of the Elizabethan Englishman Orlando Gibbons, with his tiny gem of a hymn 'Drop Drop Slow Tears', followed by the 'Crucifixus' for 8 voices by the Venetian composer Antonio Lotti, a near contemporary of Bach. Both works sung by the choir of St Paul's Cathedral in London under John Scott and if you enjoyed last week's show about the sounds of sacred space you'll appreciate the reverb of the choir under St Paul's massive dome.

Easter is a remarkable time with melancholy followed by joy, darkness leading to light, over the course of three days, and so whether you're celebrating Easter or just taking time out, I hope you give yourself the chance to reflect on the relationship between sadness and renewed hope, and the part it plays in all our lives.

And that's the rhythm divine.

Further Information

BBC TV - The Passion
The Passion is a BBC drama, retelling the last week in the life of Jesus Christ and written by Emmy Award winner Frank Deasy (Prime Suspect 7). The Passion will be shown throughout Holy Week on BBC ONE, drawing to a climax on Easter Sunday.

Music

CD title: Henryk Gorecki: Symphony No. 3
Track title: 2nd Movement
Artist: Dawn Upshaw/ London Sinfonietta/ David Zinman
Composer: Gorecki
CD details: Elektra Nonesuch 7559 79282 2
URL: http://www.artandculture.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ACLive.woa/wa/artist?id=878

CD title: Gesualdo Tenebrae
Track title: Lesson 1, De Lamentatione & Response 1, Omnes amici mei
Artist: Taverner Consort/ Andrew Parrott
Composer: Gesualdo
CD details: Sony Classical SK 62977

CD title: Passiontide at St Paul's
Track title: Drop Drop Slow Tears/ Crucifixus
Artist: The Choir of St Paul's Cathedral/ John Scott
Composer: Orlando Gibbons/ Lotti
CD details: Hyperion CDA 66916
URL: http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/acc/lotti.html

Presenter

Geoff Wood

Producer

Geoff Wood