DESCRIPTION:
His greatest work according to Steve as of June 2014.
Played at his memorial service on August 8, 2014

A four-part setting of this text was included
by Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) in the 1605
print of his Requiem Mass, written for the funeral
of the daughter of Charles V of Spain, the Empress
Maria, in 1603.


Lesson II at Matins for the Dead

Taedet animam meam animae meae;
dimittam adversum me eloquium meum,
loquar in amaritudine animae meae.
Dicam Deo: Noli me condemnare;
indica mihi cur me ita judices.
Numquid bonum tibi videtur,
si calumnieris me et opprimas me,
opus manuum tuarum,
et consilium impiorum adjures?
Numquid oculi carnei tibi sunt:
aut sicut videt homo, et tu videbis?
Numquid sicut dies hominis dies tui,
et anni tui sicut humana sunt tempora,
ut quaeras iniquitatem meam,
et peccatum meum scruteris?
Et scias quia nihil impium facerim,
cum sit nemo qui de manu tua
possit eruere.
I am weary at heart of my life;
I will speak out at my own risk,
and express the bitterness in my soul.
I shall say to God: Do not condemn me,
but show me why you judge me this way.
Shall it seem a good thing to you to cheapen me and oppress me, a man of your own making, and to support the schemes of the wicked?
Are your eyes like human eyes?
Do even you see only as men do?
Is your life like the life of men, and
do your years pass like the days of men,
that you should search for faults in me,
and investigate my sins?
Surely you know that I have done nothing wrong, and that no-one could save me from your hand.