Lamentations of Jeremiah
Lamentationes Ieremiae (English Lamentations of Jeremiah)
In the Greek and Latin Bibles there are five songs of lament bearing the name of Jeremiah, which follow the Book of the Prophecy of Jeremias. In the Hebrew these are entitled Kinôth. from their elegiac character, or the 'Ekhah songs after the first word of the first, second, and fourth elegies; in Greek they are called Threnoi, in Latin they are known as Lamentationes. The superscription to Lamentations in the Septuagint and other versions throws light on the historical occasion of their production and on the author: "And it came to pass, after Israel was carried into captivity, and Jerusalem was desolate, that Jeremiah the prophet sat weeping, and mourned with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and with a sorrowful mind, sighing and moaning, he said:".
To a man like Jeremiah, the day on which Jerusalem became a heap of ruins was not only a day of national misfortune, for, in a religious sense, Jerusalem had a peculiar importance in the history of salvation, as the footstool of Jahweh and as the scene of the revelation of God and of the Messias. Consequently, the grief of Jeremiah was personal, not merely a sympathetic emotion over the sorrow of others, for he had sought to prevent the disaster by his labours as a prophet in the streets of the city. All the fibres of his heart were bound up with Jerusalem; he was now himself crushed and desolate.
In all five elegies the construction of the verses follows an alphabetical arrangement. The first, second, fourth, and fifth laments are each composed of twenty-two verses, to correspond with the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet; the third lament is made up of three times twenty-two verses. In the first, second, and fourth elegies each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letters following in order, as the first verse begins with ALEPH, the second with BETH etc.
The Lamentations have received a peculiar distinction in the Liturgy of the Church in the Office of Passion Week. If Christ Himself designated His death as the destruction of a temple, "he spoke of the temple of his body" (John 2:19-21), then the Church surely has a right to pour out her grief over His death in those Lamentations which were sung over the ruins of the temple destroyed by the sins of the nation.
Settings by composers
- Alexander Agricola — Lamentations 4 voices Latin ATBB
- Gregorio Allegri — Incipit lamentatio Latin SATB
- Antoine Brumel — Lamentations of Jeremiah Latin ATTB, TTBB
- François Couperin — Leçons de ténèbres Latin Solo high
- Thomas Crecquillon — Lamentationes Jeremiae Latin ATTBB
- Fabrizio Dentice — Feria 5. In cœna Domini Latin SATTB
- Fabrizio Dentice — Feria 6. in Parasceve Latin SATTB
- Fabrizio Dentice — Sabbato Sancto. Pro tertia die Latin SATTB
- Antoine de Févin — Lamentations of Jeremiah Latin ATTB
- Elzear Genet — Lamentations for Maundy Thursday, Lesson One Latin ATTB
- Elzear Genet — Lamentations for Maundy Thursday, Lesson Three Latin ATTB
- Elzear Genet — Lamentations for Maundy Thursday, Lesson Two Latin ATTB
- Elzear Genet — Recordare Domine Latin SSA
- Pietro Amico Giacobetti — Lamentatio Jeremias Feria V Latin SATTB
- Gerónimo Gonzales — Lamentación de Jeremías Latin SATB.SATB
- Charles Gounod — Gallia Latin SATB
- Marco Antonio Ingegneri — Facti sunt Latin TTBB, SATB
- Tanmoy Laskar — Lamentations of Jeremiah I Latin SSAATB
- Orlando di Lasso — Lamentationes Hieremiae Prophetae (quatuor vocum) Latin SATB
- Orlando di Lasso — Lamentationes Hieremiae Prophetae (quinque vocum) Latin SATTB
- Juan de Lienas — Lamentatio Latin SATB, SSATB
- Tiburtio Massaino — Feria V in coena Domini Latin SATTB
- Tiburtio Massaino — Feria VI in Parasceve Latin SATTB
- Tiburtio Massaino — In Sabbato Sancto Latin SATTB
- Emerico Lobo de Mesquita — Lamentations of Jeremiah Latin SATB
- Giovanni Maria Nanino — Lamentations for Maundy Thursday Latin ATTB
- Giovan Nasco — Lamentationes Jeremiae Feria V Latin TTTB
- Giovan Nasco — Lamentationes Jeremiae Feria VI Latin TTTB
- Giovan Nasco — Lamentationes Jeremiae Feria VII Latin TTTB
- Antonio Teodoro Ortells — Lesson I in Feria V a 12 Latin SSAT.SATB.SATB
- Marbrianus de Orto — Lamentations Latin ATBB
- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — Lamentationes Hieremiae Prophetae liber I Latin
- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — Lamentationes Jeremiae prophetae - Liber 3 Latin
- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — Lamentationes Jeremiae prophetae - Liber 4 Latin ATTTTB
- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — Recordare Domine Latin TTTB
- Osbert Parsley — Lamentations Latin SAATB,ATTBB
- Jeffrey Quick — Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae Latin SATB
- Thomas Tallis — Lamentations of Jeremiah Latin ATTBB
- José de Torres — Aleph. Ego vir videns Latin S
- Francisco Valls — De lamentatione Jeremiae Latin SSAT.SATB
- Willem Verkaik — Klaagliederen lectio prima Dutch SSATB
- Willem Verkaik — Klaagliederen lectio tertia Dutch SSATB
- Tomás Luis de Victoria — Lamentations of Jeremiah Latin SSAB
- Robert White — Lamentations a 5 Latin SATBB
- Robert White — Lamentations a 6 Latin SSAATB
- Works that currently have no editions available:
- Estêvão de Brito — Lamentationes Jeremiae
External links
- Article on the Lamentations , with examples of distribution of verses among the tenebrae services.
Text and translations
Different authors have set to music different Vss. The particular Vss of one musical settings are mentioned in the author's page and in the music's page. Often the setting starts with the words Incipit lamentatio Ieremiae prophetae (if the Vss are the first ones of one lamentation) or De lamentatione Ieremiae prophetae (if the Vss are not at the beginning of one lamentation). The settings always end with the words Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum ("Jerusalem, return to the Lord thy God").
(from the Clementine Vulgate) Chapter 1 Latin text1:1 ALEPH. Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo! Facta est quasi vidua domina gentium; princeps provinciarum facta est sub tributo. |
(from the Revised Standard Version) Chapter 1 English translation1:1 ALEPH. How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the cities has become a vassal. |
Chapter 2 |
Chapter 2 |
Chapter 3 |
Chapter 3 |
Chapter 4 |
Chapter 4 |
Chapter 5 |
Chapter 5 |
Korean translation
1:1 아, 슬프다. 예전에는 사람들로 그렇게 붐비더니, 이제는 이 도성이 어찌 이리 적막한가! 예전에는 뭇 나라 가운데 으뜸이더니 이제는 과부의 신세가 되고, 예전에는 모든 나라 가운데 여왕이더니 이제는 종의 신세가 되었구나.
1:2 이 도성이 여인처럼 밤새도록 서러워 통곡하니, 뺨에 눈물이 마를 날 없고, 예전에 이 여인을 사랑하던 남자 가운데 그를 위로하여 주는 남자가 하나도 없으니, 친구는 모두 그를 배반하여 원수가 되었는가!
1:3 유다가 고통과 고된 노역에 시달리더니, 이제는 사로잡혀 뭇 나라에 흩어져서 쉴 곳을 찾지 못하는데, 뒤쫓는 모든 자들이 막다른 골목에서 그를 덮쳐 잡는구나.
1:4 시온으로 가는 길이 이렇게 쓸쓸하다니! 명절이 되었는데도 순례자가 없고, 시온 성으로 들어가는 모든 문에도 인적이 끊어지니, 제사장들은 탄식하고, 처녀들은 슬픔에 잠겼구나. 시온이 이렇게 괴로움을 겪는구나.
1:5 대적들이 우두머리가 되고, 원수들이 번영한다. 허물이 많다고, 주께서 그에게 고통을 주셨다. 아이들마저 원수들이 보는 앞에서 사로잡혀 끌려갔다.