Tenebrae factae sunt
Tenebrae factae sunt
for a cappella SATB choir
Duration: 5 minutes
performed by the New York Virtuoso Singers
There was darkness over all the earth.
Then Jesus cried out in a loud voice:
“My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
There was darkness over all the earth.
Then Jesus cried out in a loud voice:
“Father, into thy hands I commend my sprit.”
And he gave up his ghost.
Matthew 27:46.
Luke 24: 44-46, KJV
PROGRAM NOTE:
Tenebrae factae sunt is a setting of a portion of the traditional liturgy for Good Friday, the day Christians remember Christ’s crucifixion. The opening verse (“There was darkness over all the earth”) appears in both English and Latin several times during the piece, casting a mysterious shadow over Jesus’ final, excruciating words from the Cross. The darkness is interrupted twice by a fugato treatment of the Matthew’s words
“Then Jesus cried out in a loud voice”, leading each time to the words of Christ himself. The piece ends with an exhausted but tender depiction of Jesus finally handing his soul over to his Father.
Tenebrae factae sunt was commissioned by Jeffrey Brillhart and the Bryn Mawr Chamber Singers in 2000, and was premiered by them on Good Friday of that year. In 2005 It was co-winner of the New York Virtuoso Singers’ composition competition.
