Each day in March I plan to share a choral piece. There is no particular plan or theme aside from my own taste.
I will begin with one of the summits of the choral repetoire: Thomas Tallis’ 40 part motet, Spem in alium:
Spem in alium nunquam habui
Praeter in te, Deus Israel,
Qui irasceris, et propitius eris,
Et omnia peccata hominum
In tribulatione dimittis.
Domine Deus, creator caeli et terrae,
Respice humilitatem nostram.
Translated as:
I have never placed my hope
In any other than you, God of Israel,
Who can show both anger and graciousness
And absolve all the sins
of suffering man.
Lord God, creator of Heaven and Earth
Be mindful of our humiliation.
This relatively brief text is transformed into an epic of sound. If you haven’t experienced it before, you are in for a treat.
Here is the rendition of the King’s Singers:
Séamus Sweeney 