Tomorrow, the 7pm sung mass will feature a Spanish requiem mass setting by Guerrero. This is a newly learned requiem setting for Schola Marianum, and we look forward to singing it as prayer for the Holy Souls in purgatory.
We will be singing the FULL choral requiem, which means that the propers are also set in choral style, with sections of the original chant melodies interwoven throughout.
We will start with a “prelude” before mass, singing “Taedet Animam Meam” by Victoria, which is a choral setting of the 2nd lesson of Matins in the Office for the Dead.
Translation: (Job 10: 1-7)
My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest
despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man’s days,
That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
During communion, after we sing the choral setting of the communion proper, we have 2 motets planned that are fitting for the requiem mass:
- Versa est in Luctum – a motet by Victoria written to accompany his requiem mass, Officium Defunctorum
Translation: My harp is turned to grieving and my flute to the voice of those who weep.
Spare me, O Lord, for my days are as nothing.
- Miserere Mei/Jesu Dulcis Memoria (Purcell/Victoria) – These are really two separate motets, but we are pairing them together as one. Purcell’s motet is just simple the text, “Have mercy on me, Jesus, have mercy on me”. This will lead directly into Victoria’s setting of the first verse of “Jesu Dulcis Memoria” whose poetic verse is attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux:
Translation: Jesus, sweet remembrance, Granting the heart its true joys,
But above honey and all things is His sweet presence.