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Released on Holy Thursday, 2017.

My family and I sang this piece. My brother drew the beginning art. For those who may not be Christian this text has much historical value and we are sure that everyone can relate to what is being sung in some way, as we all have dark times in our lives. When life seems darkest, often the brightest light is right around the corner, if we have the eyes to see it. Happy Easter everyone!

About the text:
This text is taken from Chapter 1 of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, verses 10-14. Jeremiah was a prophet of the Old Testament who lived during, and wrote concerning, the Babylonian captivity of the Israelites (608-538 BC). There is a book of his writings in the Bible named after him, but there is also a separate book of his writings called "Lamentations" which contain powerful sentiments of sorrow, mourning all that Israel had lost due to their unfaithfulness to God.

Each verse is introduced by a Hebrew letter as the verses go through the Hebrew alphabet. This is because the first word of the verses in Hebrew begins with that letter. These texts are amazingly ordered. For example, Lamentations chapter 1 verse 1 begins with the letter "Aleph" which is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Verse two begins with the letter "Beth" which is the second letter. Since we are doing verses 10-14, these verses begin with "Yod, Kaph, Lamed, Mem, and Nun" which are the 10-14th letters of the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and Jeremiah wrote 22 verses in this lamentation, one for each letter.

Several texts from the Lamentations, including this one, are used in the Divine Office of the Catholic liturgy on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday: the three days surrounding the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The liturgy in which these texts are used is called "Tenebrae" or "Darkness". This excerpt is sung on Holy Thursday, which is why we are releasing it today. The text is in Latin because that is the language that the western Church chose to use in its liturgies.

About the music:
The music you are hearing is a special sort of Gregorian chant, though it is not a typical selection of chant as compared to what is prescribed for most of the Catholic Church's liturgies. This is a special tone that is only used during Tenebrae, and is for optional use (meaning, there are different tones that could be used when this text is sung). This tone is from a Spanish codex, and we chose it because it seems to paint the words with a unique power, as if making them as real as upon the day they were written by the hand of Jeremiah.

Thanks to our diverse voice ranges, we arranged this piece into 3 separate octaves, pitched on a D, it follows a chiastic structure, beginning in the low octave, going to the middle octave, then to the high octave, back to the middle octave, and ending in the low octave.

We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed singing it!

Image Links:
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Lyrics:

English Translation:
[10] Jod. The enemy hath put out his hand to all her desirable things: for she hath seen the Gentiles enter into her sanctuary, of whom thou gavest commandment that they should not enter into thy church.
[11] Caph. All her people sigh, they seek bread: they have given all their precious things for food to relieve the soul: see, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile.
[12] Lamed. O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow: for he hath made a vintage of me, as the Lord spoke in the day of his fierce anger.
[13] Mem. From above he hath sent fire into my bones, and hath chastised me: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate, wasted with sorrow all the day long.
[14] Nun. The yoke of my iniquities hath watched: they are folded together in his hand, and put upon my neck: my strength is weakened: the Lord hath delivered me into a hand out of which I am not able to rise.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted unto the Lord thy God.