Tenebrae

A Lenten Pilgrimage

World Premiere!

Tenebrae Responsories
Stephen Caracciolo

Saint Mark’s Episcopal, Columbus
Saturday, March 18, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.

The Basilica of Saint Mary of the Assumption, Lancaster
Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.

The featured work is the WORLD PREMIERE performance of our Artistic Director’s poignant 27-minute collection of Tenebrae Responsories, the traditional Latin choral texts appointed for the service of Tenebrae during the observance of Holy Week in the Christian tradition. Composer Stephen Caracciolo relates of this work,

“The Latin word tenebrae describes darkness and refers to the practice of remembering the agony or ‘passion’ of Jesus in his last days. The musical texts for the liturgy of Tenebrae are heartbreaking, personal, and dark in that they express the anguish of a man wrongly accused, tortured, and publicly humiliated and executed. Aside from the continued memory of any one man, we recognize that the injustice decried in these texts is a universal story in which all people may sympathize. The work is scored for double choir and five soloists with varying dynamics, tempos, and musical textures, and is sung entirely unaccompanied! The soloists often sing at a distance from the rest of the choir to musically depict the loneliness and despair of a man abandoned by his friends. As a result, the audience is bathed in sumptuous choral surround sound as they take in this new setting of traditional texts and contemplate their meaning.”

PROGRAM

Tenebrae Responsories – Stephen Caracciolo WORLD PREMIERE

i. In monte Oliveti (“On the Mount of Olives, watch and pray.”)
ii. Tristis est anima mea (“Greatly sorrowful is my soul.”)
iii. Ecce vidimus eum (“Behold, we see him as a man of no regard.”)
iv. Eram quasi agnus innocens (“I was like an innocent lamb led to the slaughter.”)
v. Una hora? (“For but one hour could you not keep watch and pray with me?”)
vi. Seniores populi (“The elders of the people sought to take him.”)
vii. Miserere mei Deus (“Have mercy on me, O God.”)

Three American Tunes
Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord?) SOLEMN AUDIENCE SING-ALONG.
Steal Away – arr. Nicholas White
How Can I Keep from Singing? – arr. Stephen Caracciolo