Popule meus (T. L. de Victoria) & Improperia (Gregorian chant)

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Description

… evangelizing through beauty...
St. Cecilia Women’s Schola, directed by Sr. Rosemary Esseff, O.P.; art of Beato Angelico by Fr. Michael Dunleavy, OP.; readings and reflection by Fr. Austin Litke, O.P.

~ about the art ~
Crucifixion with Virgin Mary, St. Dominic and St. Thomas
Fra Angelico (1395-1455), Convent of San Marco, Florence

~ about the music ~
POPULE MEUS & IMPROPERIA, Popule Meus: Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611); Improperia & Hagios O Theos: Gregorian chant

text: Good Friday Liturgy
R. Popule meus, quid feci tibi? Aut in quo constristavi te? Responde mihi.
V. Quia eduxi te de terra Aegypti: parasti Crucem Salvatori tuo.
Hagios o Theos. Sanctus Deus.
Hagios Ischyros. Sanctus Fortis.
Hagios Athanatos, eleison hymas. Sanctus Immortalis, miserere nobis.
V. Ego propter te flagellavi Aegyptum cum primogenitis suis; et tu me flagellatum tradidisti. R. Popule meus…
V. Ego te exaltavi magna virtute; et tu me suspendisti in patibulo Crucis. R. Popule meus…

translation:
R. My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me!
V. I led you out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom, but you led your Savior to the cross.
Holy is God! Holy is God!
Holy and strong! Holy and strong!
Holy immortal One, have mercy on us. Holy immortal One, have mercy on us.
V. For you I scourged your captors, their first born sons were taken, but you have taken scourges and brought them down on Me. R. My people…
V. I gave you a royal scepter but you gave me a thorn crown. I raised you up in power, but you raised me on the Cross. R. My people…

~ about the concert ~
Recorded live on March 16th, 2016 in the Church of St. Catherine of Siena, Rome.

St. Cecilia Women’s Schola:
Anna Hewitt
Sr. Rosa Chiara Htwe, SNSC
Sr. Ana Alina Ignat, SCMP
Natalia Juzyn
Laura Martínez
Jessica Mattiace
Anna McDougall
Tatiana Nikolaeva
Meredith Smith
Kirsten Trudeau
Sr. Rosaria Yoon, OSB
Sr. Rosemary Esseff, O.P., director

Saint Cecilia Women’s Schola is an international choir formed in the fall of 2015 at the initiative of several students from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music. It’s aim is to nourish the faithful through the beauty of sacred music. This is the choir’s second concert.

Sr. Rosemary Esseff, O.P., a Dominican Sister of Nashville, TN, holds the degrees of Bachelor of Music and Master of Sacred Music (Catholic University of America) and the Baccalaureato in Composition (PIMS). Besides her teaching responsibilities, she has served as director of music and liturgy for her community for almost 20 years. She is presently studying towards a licentiate in Composition at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and a doctorate in Sacred Music.

Fr. Michael Dunleavy, O.P. is an Irish Dominican priest, currently assigned to the Dominican Convent of San Domenico di Fiesole. He is writing a doctoral thesis on the friar/artist Fra Angelico, with particular emphasis on music iconography and its religious symbolism in selected paintings of the Dominican artist.

Fr. Austin Litke, O.P., a Dominican Friar of the St. Joseph Province in the United States, is a native of Henderson, Kentucky. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies in Patristic Theology at the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum.