This Divine Music Will Get You In The Lenten Spirit
Musicians are naturally more expressive when they are inspired to write by emotions like love or sorrow. That’s why break-up songs are so popular. Add the element to the divine and the result is amazing. Even though it may seem sad and depressing, I find some of my favourite music from the Lenten period.
Lent, the liturgical period preceding Easter that celebrates Christ’s passion and death, is called “Lent”. It is a time marked by repentance, conversion, and the guilt man has suffered from sin.
Christians spend 40 days reflecting on how man’s sins were necessary for God to offer Himself as a sacrifice victim to His justice. Music is the best way to express the mood of the season.
Music has the power to set the mood and direction of our thoughts. Penitential music is no exception. These are some hymns, ancient songs, and choral songs that can help you get ready for Lent.
‘Amicus Meus’ by Tomás Luis de Victoria
[embedded content]Tenebrae is the source of this polyphonic choral piece. It is one of the most spectacular liturgies in the Lenten season. This service is held three days before Easter. It belongs to the Divine Office, which is the recitation of psalms that has been a part of the daily life for monks for centuries. It starts either at nightfall or in early morning of Holy Thursday and Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
Holy Thursday’s service tells of Christ’s subsequent betrayal in The Garden of Gethsemane. “Amicus Meus” This is the reading that was assigned for the day. It commemorates the kiss with which Judas betrayed Christ.
It would have been better for him if he hadn’t been born.
The blood was paid by the unhappy wretch
He was finally hanged.
Tomás Luis de Victoria’s eloquent use of the music to portray the text results in one of the most beautiful uses of suspension in early Baroque music. Victoria orchestrates a series of stunning suspensions at the moment Judas’s life ends. The piece is completed without any musical resolution.
‘O Sacred Head Surrounded’ by J.S. Bach
[embedded content]This well-known and beloved piece would not be complete without Lent. The final series of stanzas of Bernard of Clairvaux’s 12th-century poem constituted the text. Bernard split the longer poem. “Salve Mundi Salutare,” Each section is dedicated to a specific part of Christ’s body.
Hans Hassler composed the music for the final section that reflects on Christ’s head. J.S. Nearly 100 years later, J.S. “St. John’s Passion,” The version that congregations most commonly know.
Many translations exist, but the bluntness of the poem transcends any English text. It commemorates the crown of thorns and the accompanying grief and shame of Christ’s sufferings — ultimately caused by our
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