Lamentationes Jeremiae

In the Greek and Latin Bibles there are five songs bearing the name of Jeremiah, which follow the Book of the Prophecy of Jeremias. These five chapters in the form of laments for Judah and Jerusalem, were written for the sufferings of the population, and for the poet himself, during and after the catastrophe when the nation was invaded and devastated by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. 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 Yahweh and as the scene of the revelation of God and of the Messiah. 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, and 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.
 
Traditionally the beginning of a chapter prefaced with the words Incipit lamentatio Ieremiae prophetae and continuations announced with De lamentatione Ieremiae prophetae. Each Lesson end with the words Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum ("Jerusalem, return to the Lord thy God.") The lessons are drawn from Lamentations (Lam. 1, vv.1-2, and Lam. 1, vv.3-5). These famous and notably expressive settings are both a 5 for ATTBB and employ a sophisticatedly imitative texture.
 
Thomas Tallis set the first lesson, and second lesson, of Tenebrae on Maundy Thursday between 1560, and 1569: "when the practice of making musical settings of the Holy Week readings from the Book of Jeremiah enjoyed a brief and distinguished flowering in England (the practice had developed on the continent during the early 15th century)." Tallis like many other composers included the following text:

• the announcements Incipit Lamentatio Ieremiae Prophetae ("Here begins the Lamentation of Jeremiah the Prophet"), and De Lamentatione Ieremiae Prophetae ("From the Lamentation of Jeremiah the Prophet");
• the Hebrew letters ALEPH, BETH, GIMEL, DALETH, and HE, that headed each verse in the Vulgate; and,
• the concluding refrain Ierusalem, Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum ("Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return unto the Lord thy God").

 
William Byrd's early setting of 1563 is rarely performed despite his later popularity and importance. A voice part is missing from the majority of the work as found in the only copy of the lost original manuscript and so performance editions require substantial reconstruction.
 
Most of the continental composers of the Renaissance composed polyphonic settings of the text for use in the liturgy, including Tomas Luis de Victoria, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and Francisco de Penalosa among others.
 
Here are four albums from the above-mentioned run-down list of composers:
 
Palestrina: Lamentations. Cinquecento. Release Date: 1 Nov 2019. Label: Hyperion. Catalogue No: CDA68284. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 88.2 kHz, 24 bit).
Award:
Diapason d’Or, July/August 2020, Nouveaute.
 
Penalosa: Lamentationes (Excerpts). New York Polyphony. Release Date: 27 Sept 2019. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BIS2407. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96 kHz, 24 bit).
Award:
Gramophone Awards, 2020, Finalist – Early Music.
 
Tallis: Tenebrae Responsories. Andrew Carwood with The Cardinall’s Musick. Release Date: 29 Apr 2016. Label: Hyperion. Catalogue No: CDA68121. Hi-Res+ FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit).
Award:
Radio 3 Building a Library, March 2018, Also Recommended.
 
Victoria: Passion - Officivm Hebdomadæ Sanctæ. Jordi Savall with Capella Reial de Cata and Hesperion XXI. Release Date: 22 Apr 2021. Label: Alia Vox. Catalogue No: AVSA9943. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 88.2 kHz, 24 bit).
Award:
International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Nominated – Early Music.

​References:
Book of Lamentations. (2024, October 25). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Lamentations
 
Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet. (2023, December 23). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamentations_of_Jeremiah_the_Prophet
 
Turner, B. (2019). Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Lamentations – Book 2. Hyperion Records Ltd.