season.html

Tisha M. Rajendra

Renaissance Text

Paper 2

4/6/97

In the Preface to the A-R edition of Orlando di Lassus's Penitential Psalms and Laudate Dominum de Caelis, Peter Bergquist states that the Laudate Dominum must be considered a part of the cycle of Penitential Psalms. "The seven penitential psalms in his setting are in the first seven church modes, and the Laudate Dominum is in the eight mode," completing the set (Bergquist viii). It even appeared after the Penitential Psalms in the 1584 printing, according to Bergquist. While Bergquist is explicit about the musical reasons for the inclusion of the Laudate Dominum as part of the cycle of Penitential Psalms, he is unsure of the liturgical reasons. As he points out, the Laudate Dominum is "as jubilant as [the Penitential Psalms] are somber (Bergquist viii)." He suggests that the Laudate Dominum might represent the joy of reconciliation with God after the penance of the Penitential Psalms. However, this argument seems weak and unsubstantiated. If it was indeed customary to follow the Penitential Psalms with the Laudate psalms (psalms 148 and 150, the psalms on which the Laudate Dominum is based), then there would be reference to it in the surviving choir books of the sixteenth century. However, it is only another historian, Quickleberg, who parenthetically suggests that is was customary to follow the Penitential Psalms with the Laudate psalms.

I believe that there were other liturgical reasons to follow the Penitential Psalms with the Laudate Dominum. According to Bergquist, in the Christian Liturgy in the sixteenth century, the penitential psalms were prayed as a part of the rites of penance especially during Lent and on Fridays (Bergquist vii). Not only is Lent "the principal penitential season" in the church, it is a somber time in itself: a time of fasting and prayer. The sobriety of the Penitential Psalms matches this mood. (MCD 100; CD2; track 1:00:00 to track 1:00:48)

During the Renaissance, music played an important part in the liturgy. David Crook admits that although we do not know very much about liturgical practices in the Renaissance, we can reconstruct a little by examining the choir books of the time. There has been some debate about whether various psalm settings by Lassus were really intended for liturgical use. However, sixteenth century sources report that Lassus' choir "celebrated Vespers on Saturdays and the vigils of the major feasts, and the psalms prescribed for these occasions present the most likely context for the liturgical use of Lassus's psalm-motets" (Crook 50). Therefore, although while Albrecht V had possession of the Psalms, they were not used in liturgy at all, we will assume that Lassus intended for them to be used in the liturgy. Also, after Albrecht's death they would have certainly been used in the liturgy. Bergquist tells us that they would have been used in Friday Vespers services during Lent. Perhaps Lassus had this in mind when he set the Psalms for there are seven Fridays in Lent.

To this day, Fridays during Lent are particularly somber days during a somber season. It is the day of the week when the crucifixion is observed and the faithful were probably expected to fast and pray intensively. While much of the Penitential Psalms is just that, penitential, much of it is a cry for deliverance from various evils, sin being only one among many of these evils.

For the enemy hath persecuted my soul: he hath brought down my life to the earth.

He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been dead of old: and my

spirit is in anguish within me: my heart within me is troubled.(track 4:2:22 to track 4:3:19)

In this example in particular, the texture thins out and only the bottom three voices are left, creating a "dark," heavy sound appropriate to the subject matter.

In contrast, in the Laudate Dominum, there is likewise a section where the texture thins and there are only three voices left, however, here it is the discantus, alto and tenor, rather than Bassus, Quinta Vox, and Tenor (Bergquist 190). The three voice section in the Laudate Dominum is much higher and lighter. There is more motion than in the Seventh Penitential Psalm, as can be seen by the proliferation of sixteenth notes in the Discantus and Alto parts towards the end of the section. Since there is no recording of this available, you will have to look at the score and imagine it.

Another major difference between all of the Penitential Psalms and the Laudate Dominum that make them utterly incongruous with one another is that the Penitential Psalms are all in the first person singular and are a direct address to God. In all the Penitential Psalms except the second in Lassus's setting, the opening verse is always an invocation to God to hear or have mercy on the speaker, who is always an individual.

Psalm 1: O Lord, rebuke me not...

Psalm 3: Rebuke me not, O Lord...

Psalm 4: Have mercy on me, O God....

Psalm 5: Hear, O Lord, my prayer....

Psalm 6: Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord....

Psalm 7: Hear, O Lord, my prayer....

As you can see, each of these psalms mentions both the addresser and the addressee in the opening line. Thus the Penitential Psalms are very personal and invoke God in a very intimate way. They invite God with their very opening lines to hear the supplications of an individual. The overall effect of the music of the psalms matches the mood of the personal and the intimate. Often, the writing is canonic it is therefore difficult to understand the words (track 2:1:41 to track 2:2:19). There are many places where one syllable is spread over many words which is also difficult to understand. This is appropriate for the Penitential Psalms because of its intimate nature. Only God needs to understand what the singers are saying.

In contrast, in the Laudate Dominum, the speaker is addressing not God, but all of creation. This is no intimate monologue, but rather a proclamation.

First part: Praise ye the Lord from the heaven: praise ye him in high places

Second part: Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all ye deeps

Third part: Young men and maidens: let the old with the younger, praise the

name of the Lord.

Fourth part: Praise ye him for his mighty acts: praise ye him according to the

multitude of his greatness.

The whole text of the Laudate Dominum echoes the beginnings of these four parts. While the Penitential Psalms are often meditative and reflective in nature ("I meditated on all thy works: I Meditated upon the works of thy hands.") (Musical example), the Laudate Dominum is not. The Laudate Dominum speaks to the listeners, not to reflect and pray, but to praise. In contrast to the Penitential Psalms, there is relatively little canonic writing in the Laudate and much of the time the parts move together. This is much easier for the listener to understand. Towards the end, when the text is speaking of praising God with cymbals and other musical instruments, the voices move exactly together in a rhythmical fashion (Bergquist 197). At the end, all the voices pile upon one another to repeat what the whole piece echoes in many ways, "Let every spirit praise God."

In other words, the message of the Laudate Dominum is much simpler than the Penitential Psalms. While the Penitential Psalms dwells on many aspects of sin, suffering, penance, and forgiveness, the message of the Laudate Dominum is to praise God. Nothing more. As Bergquist points out, the Penitential Psalms were indeed written for the Lenten season; the season of reflection, prayer and penitence. How could the Laudate Dominum, so estatic and singular in its message be written as a part of the Penitential Psalms? In no way does it reflect the message of Lent. Since it addresses all of creation, it seems improbable that it would be written to follow a penance, which symbolizes one on one reconciliation with God.

I wish to argue that rather than symbolizing the joy after penitance, the Laudate Dominum was written for the season of joy after the season of penitance: Easter. While the Laudate Dominum is completely inappropriate for Lent, it is completely appropriate for the Easter season, the most joyous in the liturgical calendar. The last few lines of the Laudate encourage all to "Praise him with....trumpet....harp...strings....organs....cymbals." This would never have been used during Lent because in the Renaissance during Lent, instruments were not used during the liturgy.

The Laudate Dominum, so different from the Penitential Psalms is nonetheless an essential part of them because the Easter joy completes the season of Lenten sorrow, perhaps this why Lassus so clearly intended the Laudate Dominum to go along with the Penitential Psalms. A complete recording of Lassus's cycle of Penitential Psalms has not made it onto CD, which is why there are so few listening examples to accompany my paper. Without the Laudate Dominum, the Lassus's brilliant cycle of Lenten psalms is incomplete; the sorrowful psalms are an essential part of the Laudate Dominum and vice versa.