A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Lamentations

LAMENTATIONS (Lat. Lamentationes Hieremiæ). On the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, in Holy Week, the three First Lessons appointed, in the Roman Breviary, for the Office called Tenebræ, are taken from the Lamentations of Jeremiah; and the extraordinary beauty of the music to which they are sung, in the Sistine Chapel, and other large Churches, contributes not a little to the impressive character of the Service. [See Tenebræ.]

It is impossible to trace to its origin the Plain Chaunt melody to which the Lamentations were anciently adapted. The most celebrated version—though not, perhaps, the purest—is that printed by Guidetti, in his 'Directorium Chori,' in 1582. The best modern editions are those contained in the Mechlin 'Graduale,' and the Mechlin, and Ratisbon, 'Officium Hebdomadæ Sanctæ'; in which the Lessons are given, at full length, in Gregorian notation, although the music is really no more than a simple Chaunt, in the Sixth Mode, repeated, almost notatim, not only to each separate verse of the Sacred Text, but even to the prefatory 'Incipit Lamentatio Jeremiæ Prophetæ,' and the names of the Hebrew letters with which the several paragraphs are introduced.

VI. Modus.

Early in the 16th century, the use of the Plain Chaunt Lamentations was discontinued, in the Pontifical Chapel, to make room for a polyphonic setting, by Elziario Genet—more commonly known by his Italian cognomen, Carpentrasso—who held the appointment of Maestro di Capella, from 1515 to 1526. These compositions remained in constant use, till the year 1587, when Pope Sixtus V. ordained, that the First Lamentation for each day should be adapted to some kind of polyphonic music better fitted to express the mournful character of the words than that of Carpentrasso; and, that the Second and Third Lessons should be sung, by a single Soprano, to the old Plain Chaunt melody as revised by Guidetti. The disuse of Carpentrasso's time-honoured harmonies gave great offence to the Choir: but, the Pope's command being absolute, Palestrina composed some music to the First Lamentation for Good Friday, in a manner so impressive, that all opposition was at once silenced; and the Pope, himself, on leaving the Chapel, said, that he hoped, in the following year, to hear the other two First Lessons sung in exactly the same style. The expression of this wish was, of course, a command: and, so understanding it, Palestrina produced, in January 1588, a volume, containing a complete set of the nine Lamentations—three, for each of the three days—which were printed, the same year, by Alexander Gardanus, under the title of Lamentationen liber primus. The work was prefaced by a formal dedication to the Supreme Pontiff, who, though he still adhered to his resolution of having the Second and Third Lessons sung always in Plain Chaunt, expressed great pleasure in accepting it: and, in 1589, it was reprinted, at Venice, in 8vo., by Girolamo Scoto.

More complex in construction than the great Composer's 'Improperia,' though infinitely less so than his Masses and Motets, these matchless 'Lamentations' are written, throughout, in the devout and impressive style which produces so profound an effect in the first-named work, and always with marked attention to the mournful spirit of the words. They do not, like the Plain Chaunt rendering, embrace the entire text: but, after a certain number of verses, pause on the final chord of a prolonged cadence, and then pass on to the Strophe, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, with which each of the nine Lessons concludes. In the single Lesson for Good Friday—which, though not included in the original printed copy, is, undoubtedly, the most beautiful of all—the opening verses are sung by two Soprani, an Alto, and a Tenor; a Bass being added, in the concluding Strophe, with wonderful effect. A similar arrangement is followed in the third Lamentation for the same day: but the others are for four voices only, and most of them with a Tenor in the lowest place; while in all, without exception, the introductory sentences, 'Incipit Lamentatio,' or, 'De Lamentatione,' as well as the names of the Hebrew initial letters, are set to harmonies of infinite richness and beauty—

Feria VI in Parasceve. Lectio I.

Since the death of Palestrina, the manner of singing the Lamentations in the Pontifical Chapel has undergone no very serious change. In accordance with the injunction of Pope Sixtus V, the Second and Third Lessons for each day have always been sung^[1] in Plain Chaunt: generally, by a single Soprano; but, sometimes, by two, the perfection of whose unisonous performance has constantly caused it to be mistaken for that of a single Voice. Until the year 1640, the First Lesson for each day was sung from Palestrina's printed volume. In that year, the single unpublished Lesson for Good Friday, composed in 1587, was restored to its place, and the use of the published one discontinued: while a new composition, by Gregorio Allegri, was substituted for Palestrina's Lesson for Holy Saturday. The restoration of the MS. work can only be regarded as an inestimable gain. Allegri's work will not bear comparison with that which it displaced; though it is a composition of the highest order of merit, abounding in beautiful combinations, and written with a true appreciation of the spirit of the text. It opens as follows:—

Sabbato Sancto. Lectio I.

etc.

It will be seen that Allegri has here not only adopted the tonality in which nearly all Palestrina's Lamentations are written—the Thirteenth Mode, transposed—but has also insensibly fallen very much into the Great Master's method of treatment. Unhappily, the same praise cannot be awarded to another work, which he produced in 1651, a few months only before his death, and which, though it bears but too plain traces of his failing discernment, was accepted by the College, as a mark of respect to the dying Composer, and retained in use until the Pontificate of Benedict XIII. This Pontiff inaugurated a radical change, by decreeing that the First Lessons should no longer be sung in this shortened form, but, with the entire text set to music. To meet his desire, three Lamentations, by modern writers, were submitted for approval, but unanimously rejected by the College, who commissioned Giovanni Biordi to add to the compositions of Palestrina and Allegri whatever was necessary to complete the text. Biordi was, perhaps, as well fitted as any man then living to undertake this difficult task: but it is to be regretted that he did not more carefully abstain from the use of certain forbidden intervals, and unlicensed chords. At the word, lacrymis, in the Lesson for Good Friday, he has made the first Soprano move a chromatic semitone, thereby producing, with the other parts, the chord of the Augmented Sixth. No doubt, his object in doing this was to intensify the expression of the word: but, neither the semitone, nor the chord, would have been tolerated by Palestrina.^[2] Again, in the Lesson for Holy Saturday, he has used the diminished fourth in disjunct motion, and broken many other time-honoured rules. Nevertheless, his work—which is, in many respects, extremely good—was unhesitatingly accepted, and retained in use till the year 1731, when Pope Clement XII. restored the Lamentations to their original shortened form. In this form they were suffered to remain, till 1815, when the indefatigable Baini restored Palestrina's printed Lamentation for the first day, retaining the MS. of 1587 for the second, and Allegri's really beautiful composition for the third; while the last-named composer's inferior work was suffered to fall into disuse—an arrangement which left little to be desired, and which has not, we believe, been followed by any farther change.

Besides the printed volume already mentioned, Palestrina composed two other entire sets of Lamentations, which, though written in his best and purest style, remained, for two centuries and a half, unpublished. One of them was prepared, as early as the year 1560, for the use of the Lateran Basilica, where the original MS. is still preserved. The other reaches us only through the medium of a MS. in the Altaemps Otthoboni collection, now in the Vatican Library. In the year 1842, Alfieri printed the three sets, entire, in the 4th volume of his Raccolta di Musica Sacra, together with the single Lamentation for Good Friday, to which he appended Biordi's additional verses, without, however, pointing out the place where Palestrina's work ends, and Biordi's begins. The three single Lamentations, sung in the Pontifical Chapel, are given, with Biordi's now useless additions, in a volume of the same editor's Excerpta, published in 1840; and, without Biordi's verses, in Choron's Collection des Pièces de Musique Religieuse. Both these editions are now out of print, and difficult to obtain: but a fine reprint of the nine pieces contained in the original Lamentationum liber primus will be found in Proske's Musica Divina, vol. iv. Mr. Capes, in his Selection from the works of Palestrina (Novello), has given the 1st Lamentation in Cœnâ Domini, and the 1st in Sabb. Sancto, from the 1st book (1588), and has introduced between them the single Lesson for Good Friday (1587) already mentioned.

Though the Lamentations of Carpentrasso, Palestrina, and Allegri, are the only ones that have ever been actually used in the Pontifical Chapel, many others have been produced by Composers of no small reputation. As early as the year 1506, Ottaviano dei Petrucci published, at Venice, two volumes, containing settings by Johannes Tinctoris, Ycaert, De Orto, Francesco (d'Ana) da Venezia, Johannes de Quadris, Agricola, Bartolomeo Tromboncino, and Gaspar and Erasmus Lapicida. All these works were given to the world before that of Carpentrasso, which, with many more of his compositions, was first printed, at Avignon, by Johannes Channay, in 1532. But the richest collection extant is that entitled Piisaimæ ac sacratissimæ Lamentationes Jeremiæ Prophetæ, printed, in Paris, by A. le Roy and Robert Ballard, in 1557, and containing, besides Carpentrasso's capo d'opera, some extremely fine examples by De la Rue, Fevin, Archadelt, Festa, and Claudin le Jeune.

'Lamentations' by English Composers are exceedingly rare: hence, quite an exceptional interest is attached to a set of six, for five Voices, by R. Whyte, discovered by Dean Aldrich, and preserved, in MS., in the Library of Christ Church, Oxford. [See Whyte, Robert.]

[ W. S. R. ]

1. Of course, without any accompaniment.
2. Alfieri has published two editions of this work; and, in both, he has inserted Biordi's additional verses, without vouchsafing any sign—beyond that afforded by internal evidence—to indicate that they are not the genuine work of Palestrina himself. We mention this circum stance, tn order to show the danger of trusting, in doubtful cases, to the authority of any modern edition whatever. Alfieri's volumes may some day, lead to the belief that Palestrina permitted the use of the chromatic semitone in his Ecclesiastical music!