Music for Good Friday – Ben Keseley

I love this week. Not because it’s the busiest and most intense week for a church musician, but because it is a week that possesses things of great beauty and an incredible story.  It provides us an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the richest and most profound liturgies of the church which help us enter more fully into the great Paschal mystery.  For me, the incredible music of this week is inseparable and equally profound, for it along with our liturgies and scripture not only resonate with contemporary significance, but get at the heart of the human condition.

On this solemn day when we hear the Passion Gospel proclaimed, recounting those final hours of Christ’s death on the cross, my mind is immediately drawn to how music is able to illuminate and probe the depths of this Gospel.  In the church’s liturgical traditions, there is often less music than perhaps normal on this day and much of it is usually unaccompanied.  Yet, the music that is offered today, even if offered simply, is of great depth and deeply moving.

One of the parts of the Liturgy for Good Friday that I find particularly moving is The Veneration of the Cross, a final part of the Liturgy for today.  The Veneration invites congregants to the foot of the cross for meditation and prayer.  During this time anthems are sung, often the Solemn Reproaches.

The Solemn Reproaches are an ancient text that follows the pattern of Psalm 78, which reminds of God’s continuing acts of faithfulness and our rebellion.  Here, each reproach – snapshots of Old Testament stories – are interspersed with the words “O my people.  What have I done to you.  How have I offended you? Answer me!” and the Trisagion – “Holy God, Holy and strong, Holy and immortal, have mercy upon us.”

I’ll never forget my first exposure to this text and two musical settings of it in particular.  It was a chilly Fall day as I was quickly trying to plan music for Holy Week, while juggling grad school, recital preparations, and a full-time church job.   I stumbled upon John Sanders setting of this text.  I remember immediately being struck not only by the text but by the sheer beauty of the music and its ability to transform and transport me to the cross.

In John Sanders’ setting, each reproach is framed by the refrain of “O my people. What I have I done to you…” or the Trisagion set in eight part harmony with suspended dissonances that create much anguish and high emotion.  It is not pretty music, but beautifully crafted music that elevates the text into something that is alive – something that becomes part of us.  I love how Sanders takes this text which addresses all of God’s people and sets it with soaring musical lines that seem to encompass the world.  Yet the music’s weeping motives (descending pitches) and intense harmonies strike at the heart and make these pleas intensely personal.  For me this was immediately transformative, enabling a fuller understanding of this day and that I too, am a part of the Christian story – past, present, and future.   It was the first time I had ever felt deeply connected to our Salvation narrative and the events of this day.  It was the first time I fully acknowledged my sinfulness and need for forgiveness.  All on a chilly Fall day, far from Holy Week. God’s gift of music is an incredible thing!

Later I discovered the familiar setting by Tomás Luis de Victoria from the 16^th century.  It is one of equal beauty. In striking contrast to the Sanders, Victoria’s writing uses the harmonic language of his day.  With stark simplicity he creates an emotional setting that is very different, but no less profound than Sanders. The simple, beautiful, and disciplined homophonic writing of the Renaissance along with texts in Latin and Greek, provide an intense connection to the long and rich traditions of Christianity, one much greater than ourselves.  To know that this piece has been a part of Christian worship on this day for centuries, is remarkable.  Victoria’s writing evokes a deep and hopeful inner peace through his ability to create expressive and beautiful music through simple homophony and beautiful chant.

I find it interesting that in the Sanders setting, the refrains are more musically complex and each reproach a simple psalm tone.  Yet in the Victoria, it is the refrains that are set more simply, and the psalm verses are set to more florid chant.  While this in part relates to the stylistic conventions at the times they were written, it provides different perspective and points for meditation.

For me, these two musical settings of the Solemn Reproaches are seared into my mind and have had a profound effect on my faith.   While each reproach recalls an Old Testament story, one could easily replace these with stories of rebellion and unfaithfulness in our lives.  Having lived with this text for several years now, each time I hear it sung, I’m drawn more deeply and profoundly into the mysteries of our faith.

I’m thankful for this aspect of music – that each time we engage with a piece of music, we enter into it more deeply – new things are revealed and we continue to learn.  I’m thankful for the blessing of the incredible music of this day that upon each hearing we are drawn deeper into it – into the music – the text – and into our faith.

Hear the music: