# The Lamentation in Music (Entry from the Grove Music Online): Reference



## JosefinaHW

The Lamentation

Entry from Grove Music Online

Lamentations.The Old Testament verses of mourning of the prophet Jeremiah (_Threni, Lamentationes_), portions of which were sung in the Roman Catholic liturgy until around 1970 as lessons for the first Nocturn of Matins on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Along with the great responsories, the Lamentations are musically the most important texts of TENEBRAE and were set polyphonically by major composers as early as the 15th century.
1. Structure of chant.Until the 16th century the number and selection of Lamentations verses used as lessons for the _triduum sacrum_ varied considerably, but the Council of Trent succeeded in establishing an ordered system. From then the division was essentially as shown in Table 1 [not available online]. The first lesson begins with the words 'Incipit lamentatio Jeremiae prophetae' (or 'De lamentatione'), the third lesson on Holy Saturday with 'Incipit oratio Jeremiae prophetae'. A distinguishing feature is the appearance of Hebrew letters (Aleph, Beth, Ghimel) at the beginning of each verse, indicating that in the original Hebrew the five chapters of laments were largely an alphabetical acrostic. Each lesson ends with the line 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum', which is not from Jeremiah but is freely adapted from _Hosea_ xiv.1.

TABLE 1 _Lesson I__Lesson II__Lesson III_Maundy Thursdayi. 1-5i. 6-9i. 10-14Good Fridayii. 8-11ii. 12-15iii. 1-9Holy Saturdayiii. 22-30iv. 1-6v. 1-11

Table 1
Like the Passion, the Lamentations received particular emphasis in the readings of the Holy Week liturgy and were distinguished by special lesson chants. Those that survive from the Middle Ages are in part simple recitation formulae and in part more individual settings that attempt to express the content of the text (ex.1). After the Council of Trent one of the simpler existing formulae, related structurally to the 6th psalm tone, was officially prescribed in the Roman liturgy (ex.2). For the _Oratio Jeremiae_ (third lesson on Holy Saturday) a melodically rich, ornamented _tonus lamentationum_ of Spanish provenance could be used. A monophonic setting of the complete Sarum text by the 15th-century English composer John Tuder (_GB-Cmc_ Pepys 1236) is an extended paraphrase of the 'Roman' tone in a form then current in England.
Ex.1 from Wagner, p.240

Ex.2 LU, 631


2. Polyphonic Lamentations to 1600.The history of polyphonic Lamentations can be traced only as far back as the middle of the 15th century. Like contemporary polyphony for the Passion, the earliest settings intended to serve liturgically as lessons for the _triduum sacrum_ were organum-like with strictly syllabic declamation and frequent parallel movement. Such settings may be distinguished, however, from a smaller group of motet-like works based on single verses. The best-known example is Du Fay's three-voice lament on the fall of Constantinople (1453), which has a French text ('O tres piteulx') in the upper voice and the Roman _tonus lamentationum_ with the text 'Omnes amici ejus spreverunt eam' (_Lamentations_ i.2) in the tenor. Other 'Lamentation motets' of the late 15th century are Johannes Cornago's _Patres nostri peccaverunt_ and Compère's _O vos omnes_.
A large, two-volume collection of polyphonic Lamentations printed by Petrucci in 1506 illustrates the extent to which composers of the Josquin generation, including Alexander Agricola, Marbrianus de Orto, Johannes de Quadris, Gaspar van Weerbeke, Erasmus Lapicida, Tinctoris, Tromboncino and Bernhard Ycart, were interested in works of this genre. A characteristic of the works of this collection, and of Lamentations generally in the first half of the 16th century, is that individual composers treated a varied selection of _Lamentations_ chapters. They also differ greatly in the number of verses they set, as well as in the way they grouped them in the course of the lesson. In melodic substance the majority of the Lamentations in Petrucci's collection bear the stamp of the Roman _tonus lamentationum_, which is clearly recognizable as a cantus firmus in places and more freely worked in others. The setting of Tromboncino is peculiar in that the opening is set to an original theme, the individual motifs of which are repeated in the same or a different order as the text progresses. The Lamentations of Quadris are also notable for their strophic-like form, similar in structure to settings of the _Magnificat_ from around 1500.
The flowering of polyphonic Lamentations that began with the Petrucci edition lasted for the whole of the 16th century. Netherlandish, French, Italian and Spanish composers were first and foremost in this field, English and German being less in evidence. For the first half of the century the main sources are _Liber decimus: Passiones_ (Paris, 1534; RISM 1535²); _Selectae harmoniae_ (Wittenberg, 1538¹); _Lamentationes Hieremiae Prophetae_ (Nuremberg, 1549¹); and _Piissimae ac sacratissimae lamentationes_ (Paris, 1557[SUP]7[/SUP]). These publications include Lamentations by Arcadelt, Crecquillon, Costanzo Festa, Antoine de Févin, Johannes Gardano, Isaac, La Rue, Stephan Mahu and Claudin de Sermisy. Carpentras must rank as the most prolific composer of the genre at this time; his Lamentations, which had appeared in an individual edition in Avignon in 1532, enjoyed special favour with the popes and were regularly sung in S Pietro until 1587.
Lamentations in the first half of the 16th century adhered more rigidly to the Roman _tonus lamentationum_ than did those of earlier composers, which means that most were in the same mode (F Ionian). Stylistically they are similar to the contemporary motet; four-part writing is clearly the rule and the spectrum of contrapuntal possibilities is quite varied. The Lamentations of Carpentras and Crecquillon, in particular, are often highly imitative and rhythmically complex, whereas La Rue preferred a more homorhythmic texture reminiscent of the French chanson. Expressive devices are not more highly developed or more frequently used than in other genres despite the strongly expressive nature of the text.
In the second half of the 16th century the most significant settings are those of Morales (1564), Victoria (1581), Lassus (1585), Asola (1585), Handl (in _Opus musicum_, iii, 1587) and Palestrina (five books from 1564 on, only the first of which was printed in Rome in 1588). Palestrina's Lamentations, along with works of other composers, replaced those of Carpentras in the papal chapel from 1587. Stylistically they are close to his _Improperia_ and _Stabat mater_ and belong among his most mature works. In contrast to settings from the first half of the century, they reveal a stronger tendency to homorhythmic texture in order to obtain a clear declamation of the text (this is also true of the Lamentations of Lassus and Handl, but not of Morales and Victoria). In Palestrina's compositions only the Hebrew letters are melodically and rhythmically ornate, rather like illuminated initials. Adherence to the Roman _tonus lamentationum_ was no longer as prevalent nor as strict; this is generally true of other settings of his time. The only complete setting of the Lamentations from 16th-century England, which appears anonymously in _GB-Lbl_ Roy. App.12-16, does occasionally paraphrase the chant tone in the upper voice and the partial setting by Osbert Parsley makes use of it; but the Lamentations of Byrd, Tallis and Robert White dispense with it altogether. Of these English settings, only that of Tallis sets a text corresponding to the requirements of the Sarum Breviary (in this case the first and second lessons of Maundy Thursday); those of White (two sets, in five and six parts respectively, with almost identical texts) correspond to parts of the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday lessons; those of Byrd and Parsley are extracts from the Roman arrangements; while the anonymous setting includes all nine of the Roman lessons (with the omission of some verses: see Warren, 1970). 16th-century Spanish composers made striking use of a Spanish _tonus lamentationum_: a setting by Morales, in which this lesson tone appears as a cantus firmus, was transcribed into tablature for lute and solo voice by Miguel de Fuenllana in 1554, anticipating to some extent the early monodic Lamentations of the next century.

3. Settings after 1600.The stylistic innovations of the early 17th century influenced the Lamentations slowly. Among the numerous settings in the _stile antico_ are those of Giovanni Croce (1603 and 1610), Karl Luython (1604), Viadana (1609) and Gregorio Allegri (1641). The Lamentations of Allegri partly superseded those of Palestrina in the papal chapel. But monodic Lamentations with basso continuo began to be written in Italy as early as the end of the 16th century. According to a report by G.B. Doni, Vincenzo Galilei of the Florentine Camerata had been moved to attempt composition by the Lamentations and by the songs of sorrow in Dante's _Divina commedia_, and performed his own monodic Lamentations 'molto soavemente … sopra un concerto di viole' (_Trattato della musica scenica_, chap.9). Any settings that Galilei may have written down, however, have not survived. The Lamentations by Cavalieri may have been written in collaboration with Galilei, but must also be seen in connection with the religious aspirations of the Congregazione dell'Oratorio. Probably performed in 1599 in the Oratorio della Vallicella in Rome, Cavalieri's setting is transitional in its alternation of parts for soloist and chorus; in this it was as characteristic of the half-century to 1650 as were the Lamentations of Annibale Gregori for solo voice and basso continuo printed in Siena in 1620. Not until the middle of the century do the sources for monodic Lamentations become more common, principally in Italy. Among those printed are works by A.B. Della Ciaia (1650), Pietro Cesi (1653), C.D. Cossoni (1668), Cazzati (1668), Francesco Cavanni (1689) and G.P. Colonna (1689); manuscripts surviving from this period include Lamentationsby Carissimi, Frescobaldi, Marazzoli, G.F. Marcorelli, Carlo Rainaldi, Stradella, Gaetano Veneziano and others. The only Lamentations from Germany in this period, those of Rosenmüller, were wholly italianate in style.
The texts of these composers conform to the basic criteria of a liturgical Lesson (Hebrew letters, 'Jerusalem' line, and occasionally even traces of the Roman _tonus lamentationum_). Musically, however, they depart dramatically from the traditional reserve of the _stile antico_. The Lamentations text, with its emotionally charged contest, gave the composers of the 17th century a number of welcome opportunities for text expression (chromaticism, free use of dissonance etc.), and the pathos thus achieved, reinforced by a tendency to arioso form, brought the monodic Lamentations of this period into the immediate domain of the _lamento_ in opera, oratorio and cantata. Interest in the setting of Lamentation texts waned noticeably in 18th-century Italy, but remained relatively high in Naples. Many representatives of the so-called Neapolitan school composed such works: Alessandro Scarlatti, Durante, Francesco Feo, Porpora, Leonardo Leo, David Perez, Jommelli, Alessandro Speranza and, in the 19th century, N.A. Zingarelli.
Apart from Italy, only France played an important part in the history of the Lamentations in the 17th and 18th centuries. There, more than 100 years after the collected edition of Lamentations of Le Roy & Ballard (1557), a new development began that culminated in the extensive _leçons de ténèbres_ of Michel Lambert (1689) and Charpentier (c1670-95). The most important characteristics of these settings are a highly melismatic vocal line and the frequent use of the Roman _tonus lamentationum_ as a melodic foundation. In fact, the _leçons de ténèbres_ are unique, contrasting both with the French motet and with contemporary Italian Lamentations. The _leçons_ not only served a liturgical function but were also performed in the courtly presentations of Louis XIV. The Lamentations for chorus by Guillaume Nivers (1689) were a specifically French phenomenon inspired by the exceptionally successful masses 'en plain chant' of Henry Du Mont. In the 18th century the published settings of François Couperin (?1714), Brossard (1721) and Lalande (1730) must be counted among the most noteworthy French church music of their time; their influence was felt even outside France, particularly in the Lamentations of J.-H. Fiocco, who was active in Brussels. French appreciation of the Lamentations at this time is reflected in literature, as in Diderot's reference to the Lamentations of Jommelli (_Le neveu de Rameau_).
For the most part, the continuing development of the Lamentations drew to a close at the end of the 18th century; not until the middle of the 20th century did the genre experience a short revival. Krenek's _Lamentatio_ (first performed in 1958) is based on the complete text of the nine lessons and the music combines modern serial techniques with formal and stylistic devices of the late Middle Ages to produce an original choral style of great forcefulness. In contrast, Stravinsky's _Threni_ of 1958 for soloists, chorus and orchestra is a pure 12-note work, in which the composer expressly avoided both liturgical and historical connotations.
Special cases in the history of the Lamentations are the German solo songs of the Neumarkt Cantional (c1480), non-biblical songs of mourning using the Hebrew letters and Jerusalem line. Finally, Haydn's Symphony no.26 ('Lamentatione') may be mentioned in this context as a unique work, one in which the Gregorian tone is used as a motif as well as a cantus firmus.

BibliographyG. Vale: 'Le lamentazioni de Geremia ad Aquileia', _Rassegna gregoriana_, viii (1909), 105-16
P. Bohn: 'Die Lamentation des Propheten Jeremias', _Gregorius-Blatt_, xxxviii (1913), 100-02
P. Wagner: _Einführung in die gregorianischen Melodien_, iii: _Gregorianische Formenlehre_ (Leipzig, 1921/_R_)
G. Prado Pereita: _Cantus lamentationum pro ultimo Triduo Hebdomadae majoris juxta Hispanos Codices_ (Tournai, 1934)
A. Schmitz: 'Ein schlesisches Cantional aus dem 15. Jahrhundert', _AMf_, i (1936), 385-423
A.E. Schröder: _De meerstemmige muziek op de Lamentaties van Jeremia tot het einde der 18de eeuw_ (diss., U. of Leuven, 1948)
A.E. Schröder: 'Les origines des lamentations polyphoniques au XVe siècle dans les Pays-Bas', _IMSCRV: Utrecht 1952_, 352-9
G.E. Watkins: _Three Books of Polyphonic Lamentations of Jeremiah, 1549-1564_ (diss., U. of Rochester, 1953)
F.Ll. Harrison: _Music in Medieval Britain_ (London, 1958, 4/1980)
F.Ll. Harrison: 'Music for the Sarum Rite: MS 1236 in the Pepys Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge', _AnnM_, vi (1958-63), 99-144
G. Massenkeil: 'Zur Lamentationskomposition des 15. Jahrhunderts', _AMw_, xviii (1961), 103-14
G. Massenkeil: 'Eine spanische Choralmelodie in mehrstimmigen Lamentationskompositionen des 16. Jahrhunderts', _AMw_, xix-xx (1962-3), 230-37
G. Massenkeil, ed.: _Mehrstimmige Lamentationen aus der ersten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts_ (Mainz, 1965)
T. Käser: _Die 'Leçon de ténèbres' im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert_ (Berne, 1966)
A.A. Ross: _A Study of 'Hieremiae Prophetae Lamentationes' of Orlando di Lasso_, i (diss., Indiana U., 1968)
E.R. Thomas: _Two Petrucci Prints of Polyphonic Lamentations 1506_ (diss., U. of Illinois, 1970)
C.W. Warren: 'The Music of Royal Appendix 12-16', _ML_, li (1970), 357-72
H.T. David: 'Hebrew Letters in Polyphonic Settings by Christian Composers', _Bach_, ii/2 (1971), 6-17
P. Ludwig: 'Lamentations notées dans quelques manuscrits bibliques', _EG_, xii (1971), 127-30
H.J. Marx: 'Monodische Lamentationen des Seicento', _AMw_, xxviii (1971), 1-23
D.T. Flanagan: _Polyphonic Settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah by Sixteenth-Century English Composers_ (diss., Cornell U., 1990)
C.D.H. Raynes: _Robert White's 'Lamentations of Jeremiah': a History of Polyphonic Settings of the Lamentations in Sixteenth-Century England_ (diss., U. of Arizona, 1991)
M. Olarte Martínez: 'Estudio de la forma lamentación', _AnM_, xlvii (1992), 83-101
J. Bettley: '"La composizione lacrimosa": Musical Style and Text Selection in North Italian Lamentations Settings in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century', _PRMA_, cxviii (1993), 167-202


*Günther Massenkeil*


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## JosefinaHW

Tenebrae (Grove Music Online): Reference Information

Tenebrae(Lat.: 'darkness').A name commonly applied to the combined Offices of Matins and Lauds on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday of Holy Week. The service is marked by the extinction of 15 candles, one after each psalm. At the end of the canticle _Benedictus Dominus_ all the candles are extinguished and what follows is said or sung 'in tenebris'. The musically significant parts of the service are the first three of the nine lessons of Matins, taken from the _Lamentations_ of Jeremiah, and the responsories that follow each lesson. The plainchant of the Lamentations is an elaborated psalm tone, and there is a continuous history of polyphonic settings from the 15th century to the early 19th (sometimes under different titles, as in Couperin's _Leçons de ténèbres_ or, in a later, non-liturgical context, Stravinsky's _Threni_; _see_LAMENTATIONS). The responsories were set with particular frequency after the Council of Trent (1545-63; _see_ RESPONSORY, §5). Other texts from Tenebrae set polyphonically include the BENEDICTUS (ii) and the MISERERE from Lauds. These two items, alone of the four psalms and two canticles of Lauds, are unchanged on each of the three days, which is no doubt why they alone were set. Composers of Tenebrae music (apart from the Lamentations) include G.M. Asola, Gesualdo, Jacob Handl, Lassus, Morales, Pomponio Nenna, Palestrina and Victoria. Although the Lamentations remained popular as a Baroque form, the setting of other Holy Week texts appears to have been largely confined to the Counter-Reformation.


*John Caldwell*


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## JosefinaHW

Perhaps more helpful from ChoralWiki:

http://www0.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Lamentations_of_Jeremiah

Lamentations of Jeremiah


Jeremiah lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem, by Rembrandt​
_*Lamentationes Ieremiae*_ (English *Lamentations of Jeremiah*)
In the Greek and Latin Bibles there are five songs of lament bearing the name of Jeremiah, which follow the Book of the Prophecy of Jeremias. In the Hebrew these are entitled Kinôth. from their elegiac character, or the _'Ekhah_ songs after the first word of the first, second, and fourth elegies; in Greek they are called _Threnoi_, in Latin they are known as _Lamentationes_. The superscription to Lamentations in the Septuagint and other versions throws light on the historical occasion of their production and on the author: "And it came to pass, after Israel was carried into captivity, and Jerusalem was desolate, that Jeremiah the prophet sat weeping, and mourned with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and with a sorrowful mind, sighing and moaning, he said:".
To a man like Jeremiah, the day on which Jerusalem became a heap of ruins was not only a day of national misfortune, for, in a religious sense, Jerusalem had a peculiar importance in the history of salvation, as the footstool of Jahweh and as the scene of the revelation of God and of the Messias. Consequently, the grief of Jeremiah was personal, not merely a sympathetic emotion over the sorrow of others, for he had sought to prevent the disaster by his labours as a prophet in the streets of the city. All the fibres of his heart were bound up with Jerusalem; he was now himself crushed and desolate.
In all five elegies the construction of the verses follows an alphabetical arrangement. The first, second, fourth, and fifth laments are each composed of twenty-two verses, to correspond with the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet; the third lament is made up of three times twenty-two verses. In the first, second, and fourth elegies each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letters following in order, as the first verse begins with ALEPH, the second with BETH etc.
The Lamentations have received a peculiar distinction in the Liturgy of the Church in the Office of Passion Week. If Christ Himself designated His death as the destruction of a temple, "he spoke of the temple of his body" (John 2:19-21), then the Church surely has a right to pour out her grief over His death in those Lamentations which were sung over the ruins of the temple destroyed by the sins of the nation.
Settings by composers


Alexander Agricola - Lamentations 4 voices
Gregorio Allegri - Incipit lamentatio
Estêvão de Brito - Lamentationes Jeremiae
Antoine Brumel - Lamentations of Jeremiah
François Couperin - Leçons de ténèbres
Thomas Crecquillon - Lamentationes Jeremiae
Antoine de Févin - Lamentations of Jeremiah
Elzear Genet - Recordare Domine
Gerónimo Gonzales - Lamentación de Jeremías
Charles Gounod - Gallia
Marco Antonio Ingegneri - Facti sunt
Tanmoy Laskar - Lamentations of Jeremiah I
Orlando di Lasso - Lamentationes Hieremiae Prophetae (quatuor vocum)


Orlando di Lasso - Lamentationes Hieremiae Prophetae (quinque vocum)
Juan de Lienas - Lamentatio
Emerico Lobo de Mesquita - Lamentations of Jeremiah
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Lamentations of Jeremiah
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Recordare Domine
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Sabbato Sancto (Lectio III)
Osbert Parsley - Lamentations
Thomas Tallis - Lamentations of Jeremiah
José de Torres - Aleph. Ego vir videns
Willem Verkaik - Klaagliederen
Willem Verkaik - Klaagliederen lectio tertia
Tomás Luis de Victoria - Lamentations of Jeremiah
Robert White - Lamentations a 5


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## JosefinaHW

ChoralWiki, continued:

External links

Article on the Lamentations , with examples of distribution of verses among the tenebrae services.
Text and translationsDifferent authors have set to music different Vss. The particular Vss of one musical settings are mentioned in the author's page and in the music's page. Often the setting starts with the words _Incipit lamentatio Ieremiae prophetae_ (if the Vss are the first ones of one lamentation) or _De lamentatione Ieremiae prophetae_ (if the Vss are not at the beginning of one lamentation). The settings always end with the words _Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum_ ("Jerusalem, return to the Lord thy God").

*(from the Clementine Vulgate)*
*Chapter 1*
*







Latin text*
1:1 ALEPH. Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo! Facta est quasi vidua domina gentium; princeps provinciarum facta est sub tributo.
1:2 BETH. Plorans ploravit in nocte, et lacrimæ ejus in maxillis ejus: non est qui consoletur eam, ex omnibus caris ejus; omnes amici ejus spreverunt eam, et facti sunt ei inimici.
1:3 GHIMEL. Migravit Judas propter afflictionem, et multitudinem servitutis; habitavit inter gentes, nec invenit requiem: omnes persecutores ejus apprehenderunt eam inter angustias.
1:4 DALETH. Viæ Sion lugent, eo quod non sint qui veniant ad solemnitatem: omnes portæ ejus destructæ, sacerdotes ejus gementes; virgines ejus squalidæ, et ipsa oppressa amaritudine.
1:5 HE. Facti sunt hostes ejus in capite; inimici ejus locupletati sunt: quia Dominus locutus est super eam propter multitudinem iniquitatum ejus. Parvuli ejus ducti sunt in captivitatem ante faciem tribulantis.
1:6 VAU. Et egressus est a filia Sion omnis decor ejus; facti sunt principes ejus velut arietes non invenientes pascua, et abierunt absque fortitudine ante faciem subsequentis.
1:7 ZAIN. Recordata est Jerusalem dierum afflictionis suæ, et prævaricationis, omnium desiderabilium suorum, quæ habuerat a diebus antiquis, cum caderet populus ejus in manu hostili, et non esset auxiliator: viderunt eam hostes, et deriserunt sabbata ejus.
1:8 HETH. Peccatum peccavit Hierusalem, propterea instabilis facta est: omnes qui glorificabant eam spreverunt illam: quia viderunt ignominiam eius: ipsa autem gemens et conversa retrorsum.
1:9 TETH. Sordes eius in pedibus eius: nec recordata est finis sui. Deposita est vehementer: non habens consolatorem. Vide Domine afflictionem meam: quoniam erectus est inimicus.
1:10 IOD. Manum suam misit hostis ad omnia desiderabilia ejus, quia vidit gentes ingressas sanctuarium suum, de quibus præceperas ne intrarent in ecclesiam tuam.
1:11 CAPH. Omnis populus ejus gemens, et quærens panem; dederunt pretiosa quæque pro cibo ad refocillandam animam. Vide, Domine, et considera quoniam facta sum vilis!
1:12 LAMED. O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite, et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus! quoniam vindemiavit me, ut locutus est Dominus, in die iræ furoris sui.
1:13 MEM. De excelso misit ignem in ossibus meis et erudivit me: expandit rete pedibus meis: convertit me retrorsum: posuit me desolatam tota die maerore confectam.

*(from the Revised Standard Version)*
*Chapter 1*
*







English translation*
1:1 ALEPH. How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the cities has become a vassal.
1:2 BETH. She weeps bitterly in the night, tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.
1:3 GHIMEL. Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.
1:4 DALETH. The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the appointed feasts; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her maidens have been dragged away, and she herself suffers bitterly.
1:5 HE. Her foes have become the head, her enemies prosper, because the Lord has made her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe.
1:6 VAU. From the daughter of Zion has departed all her majesty. Her princes have become like harts that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer.
1:7 ZAIN. Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and bitterness all the precious things that were hers from days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the foe, and there was none to help her, the foe gloated over her, mocking at her downfall.
1:8 HETH. Jerusalem sinned grievously, therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; yea, she herself groans, and turns her face away.
1:9 Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her doom; therefore her fall is terrible, she has no comforter. "O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!"
1:10 IOD. The enemy has stretched out his hands over all her precious things; yea, she has seen the nations invade her sanctuary, those whom thou didst forbid to enter thy congregation.
1:11 CAPH. All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. "Look, O Lord, and behold, for I am despised."
1:12 LAMED. "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger."
1:13 MEM. "From on high he sent fire; into my bones he made it descend; he spread a net for my feet; he turned me back;
he has left me stunned, faint all the day long.

 
*Chapter 2*
2:8 HETH. Cogitavit Dominus dissipare murum filiæ Sion; tetendit funiculum suum, et non avertit manum suam a perditione: luxitque antemurale, et murus pariter dissipatus est. 
2:9 TETH. Defixæ sunt in terra portæ ejus, perdidit et contrivit vectes ejus; regem ejus et principes ejus in gentibus: non est lex, et prophetæ ejus non invenerunt visionem a Domino.
2:10 IOD. Sederunt in terra, conticuerunt senes filiæ Sion; consperserunt cinere capita sua, accincti sunt ciliciis: abjecerunt in terram capita sua virgines Jerusalem.
2:11 CAPH. Defecerunt præ lacrimis oculi mei, conturbata sunt viscera mea; effusum est in terra jecur meum super contritione filiæ populi mei, cum deficeret parvulus et lactens in plateis oppidi.
2:12 LAMED. Matribus suis dixerunt: Ubi est triticum et vinum? cum deficerent quasi vulnerati in plateis civitatis, cum exhalarent animas suas in sinu matrum suarum.
2:13 MEM. Cui comparabo te, vel cui assimilabo te, filia Jerusalem? cui exæquabo te, et consolabor te, virgo, filia Sion? magna est enim velut mare contritio tua: quis medebitur tui?
2:14 NUN. Prophetæ tui viderunt tibi falsa et stulta; nec aperiebant iniquitatem tuam, ut te ad pœnitentiam provocarent; viderunt autem tibi assumptiones falsas, et ejectiones.

 
*Chapter 2*
2:8 HETH. The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he marked it off by the line; he restrained not his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament, they languish together.
2:9 TETH. Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets obtain no vision from the Lord.
2:10 IOD. The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have cast dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the maidens of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
2:11 CAPH. My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city.
2:12 LAMED. They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers' bosom.
2:13 MEM. What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin; who can restore you?
2:14 NUN. Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles false and misleading.

 
*Chapter 3*
3:1 ALEPH. Ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virga indignationis ejus.
3:2 ALEPH. Me minavit, et adduxit in tenebras, et non in lucem.
3:3 ALEPH. Tantum in me vertit et convertit manum suam tota die.
3:4 BETH. Vetustam fecit pellem meam et carnem meam; contrivit ossa mea.
3:22 HETH. Misericordiæ Domini, quia non sumus consumpti; quia non defecerunt miserationes ejus.
3:23 HETH. Novi diluculo, multa est fides tua.
3:24 HETH. Pars mea Dominus, dixit anima mea; propterea exspectabo eum.
3:25 TETH. Bonus est Dominus sperantibus in eum, animæ quærenti illum.
3:26 TETH. Bonum est præstolari cum silentio salutare Dei.
3:27 TETH. Bonum est viro cum portaverit jugum ab adolescentia sua.

 
*Chapter 3*
3:1 ALEPH. I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;
3:2 ALEPH. he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
3:3 ALEPH. surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.
3:4 BETH. He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones;
3:22 HETH. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
3:23 HETH. they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
3:24 HETH. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
3:25 TETH. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
3:26 TETH. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
3:27 TETH. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

 
*Chapter 4*
4:1 ALEPH. Quomodo obscuratum est aurum, mutatus est color optimus! dispersi sunt lapides sanctuarii in capite omnium platearum!
4:2 BETH. Filii Sion inclyti, et amicti auro primo: quomodo reputati sunt in vasa testea, opus manuum figuli!
4:3 GHIMEL. Sed et lamiæ nudaverunt mammam, lactaverunt catulos suos: filia populi mei crudelis quasi struthio in deserto.

 
*Chapter 4*
4:1 ALEPH. How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street.
4:2 BETH. The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are reckoned as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands!
4:3 GHIMEL. Even the jackals give the breast and suckle their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

 
*Chapter 5*
5:1 Recordare, Domine, quid acciderit nobis; intuere et respice opprobrium nostrum.
5:2 Hæreditas nostra versa est ad alienos, domus nostræ ad extraneos.
5:3 Pupilli facti sumus absque patre, matres nostræ quasi viduæ.
5:4 Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus; ligna nostra pretio comparavimus.
5:5 Cervicibus nostris minabamur, lassis non dabatur requies.

 
*Chapter 5*
5:1 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; behold, and see our disgrace!
5:2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens.
5:3 We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
5:4 We must pay for the water we drink, the wood we get must be bought.
5:5 With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest.


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## JosefinaHW

Roland de Lassus (1530-1594), _The Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremia_, Philippe Herreweghe


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## Scott in PA

I especially love the Tallis Lamentations, but they are really the only ones I know. I'll check out Lasso or Victoria when I'm in the right frame of mind.


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## JosefinaHW

Scott in PA said:


> I especially love the Tallis Lamentations, but they are really the only ones I know. I'll check out Lasso or Victoria when I'm in the right frame of mind.


I started this thread as a place to post information that I want to keep together and be able to find easier, so I wasn't recommending a particular piece of music. I WOULD be very interested to read about more background information on various Lamentation pieces and the genre itself so I thought it might be helpful to others who would like to know more about them.


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