Good Friday (2014)

Friday, 18 April 2014

 

Psalm	Father, into your hands (Martin Foster)
Gospel Acclamation	Christus factus est (Johann Ernst Eberlin, 1702-1762)
Adoration of the Cross	Behold the wood of the Cross (Missal tone) Adoramus Te (Eric Barnum, 1979-) Praise to the Holiest Crux Fidelis (attr. King John IV of Portugal) & Pange Lingua (chant) listen Jesus, remember me (Taizé)
Communion	Ave Verum Corpus (William Byrd, 1540-1623) Soul of my Saviour

Crux Fidelis was published in the mid 1840s as a composition of King John IV of Portugal, who lived from 1604 to 1656. On stylistic and (musical) grammatical grounds it’s much more likely a product of early-to-mid 19th century archaizing Romanticism, but no less a beautiful and thoughtful work, for all that.

Eric Barnum’s harmonised chant setting of the ancient Good Friday antiphon presented a contrast of arresting simplicity. We were ably conducted in it by choral scholar Aimée Presswood.