A Lenten Musical Journey, Day 7

Staying with the composerial trend we started yesterday with Sergey Taneyev’s cantata, here’s his “The Wise Thief (Razboinika blagorazumnago).”

The Penitent Thief is pretty much my personal Lenten patron. Or at least a paradigm of the way my Lenten efforts typically proceed. I feel like I’m always squeezing in at the last possible second, late-but-sincere. (Or late, at least.)

My Russian’s a bit rusty — aka, I don’t know a single jot or tittle — so I’m not entirely sure of the translation of the text. But I think it’s something like this:

Разбойника благоразумнаго во едином часе раеви сподобил еси, Господи, и мене древом крестным просвети и спаси мя

The Wise Thief didst Thou make worthy of Paradise in a single moment, O Lord. By the wood of thy Cross illumine me as well, and save me.

Attribution(s): “The Good Thief” by Anonymous (Moscow Kremlin) and licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons; “The Bells” image comes  from Shutterstock. Still.