I am not a religious person; I respect faiths but I don’t hold any of them myself. But religious art can still move and inspire me. This week we were visiting Winchester for a few days and we decided one evening to go to the Tenebrae service in the Cathedral. Tenebrae, I learnt, is an Easter service marking the betrayals, suffering and crucifixion of Christ. As the service proceeds a series of candles are extinguished one by one until at the end the church is plunged into darkness, representing the darkness – or tenebrae – that fell upon his death.
This service featured a series of readings from the Gospels, each one followed by one of the Tenebrae Responsories by the 16th century Spanish composer Tomas Luis de la Victoria. Now to be honest I have never paid a lot of attention to Renaissance polyphony before. But listening to these ethereal, solemn, sometimes dramatic four part harmonies soaring around the stunning vaulted space that is Winchester Cathedral was an incredibly powerful and moving experience. It didn’t make me believe in God but it was a very welcome reminder in these times of stupidity and ignorance, that we are capable of creating great beauty as well.
Ever since I have been listening to The Sixteen’s recording of the Tenebrae Responsories, and have become mildly obsessed. They are stunningly beautiful.
Please do offer any other examples of such music that move you.
Happy, and peaceful, Easter everyone.
Have to say that is stunningly beautiful…
It’s called knocking on the door … have a blessed Easter everyone.
Pretty much everything by The Sixteen is superlative, but I hadn’t heard the Tenebrae Responsories before (CD now on order, thanks!). If you like this kind of thing I can highly recommend Anonymous 4, an American female choral group who can make grown men weep with the beauty of their voices.
I’m not in the slightest bit religious, but I adore early choral music, and I’m familiar with Winchester Cathedral, so can imagine the event you described was very special indeed.
We’ve been lucky enough to hear a lot of different music from a wide range of artists in cathedrals, in Truro, in Exeter and in Bristol. There have been many highlights, some from religious music, some from secular music, but there are a few special ones that stand out amongst them; Sweet Honey In The Rock at Bristol’s modernist catholic cathedral in Clifton, and The Breath in Bristol’s Anglican cathedral at the foot of Park Street. Bubbling under at number three was I’m With Her, also at the catholic cathedral where we had seen Sweet Honey almost thirty years earlier.
Tidings of hope to all Afterworders this Easter.
I treasure the time we saw Low at the Liverpool Cathedral – the band and the setting complemented each other perfectly
I’ve loved this since I first saw the film If…
Excellent review, Blue Boy. It sounds like a magnificent concert.
Tomorrow I will give Tomas Luis de la Victoria a serious listen.
The wonderful Stile Antico always hit the spot for me,
Some years ago heading to see Monty Python at the O2 and having time in hand we called in at the National Gallery entering one of the galleries there was the Sixteen singing. I’ve no idea what it was they were singing but it was beautiful.
I shall listen to the Tenebrae tomorrow.
A Welsh male voice choir does it for me:
In a live context especially, I’m a sucker for choirs, orchestras and jazz big bands.
The way harmony, counterpoint, dynamics etc. can be used in all of these gets my synapses tingling.
The way a really “big” sound can move the air about in a space is also a major factor.