A Lenten Musical Journey, Day 16

A Lenten Musical Journey, Day 16 March 5, 2015

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Fresh off yesterday’s brief (but super-exciting) detour through Rachmaninoff’s Vigil, here’s the last of our “O vos omneses.” (At least for now). This one’s from the Late Italian Rennaisance composer (and nobleman and…ahem…murderer) Carlo Gesualdo.

His stuff’s astonishingly dissonant (given his era) and wonderfully unpredictable, and this piece is pretty much a perfect example. (Just listen to how quickly it shifts from where it sounds like its going/where you’d expect it to go to where Carlo’s actually headed. It usually takes me about 9 seconds in this piece. And the section at 0:44 is basically insane.)

O vos omnes qui transitis per viam: attendite et videte
si est dolor sicut dolor meus.
Attendite, universi populi, et videte dolorem meum.
Si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.

O all ye that pass by the way, attend and see:
If there be any sorrow like to my sorrow.
V. Attend, all ye people, and see my sorrow:
If there be any sorrow like to my sorrow.

Attribution(s): Gesualdo” by Anonymous, and licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons; “Bells” via Shutterstock.


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