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Lamentations (music)




Thomas Tallis made two famous sets of the Lamentations. Scored for five-part choir, they show a sophisticated use of imitation, and are noted for their expressiveness. The settings are of the first two lessons for Maundy Thursday . Tallis also sets the announcements ('Incipit Lamentatio...', and 'De Lamentatione...') the Hebrew letters that headed each verse (Aleph, Beth for the first set, Gimel, Daleth, Heth for the second) and the concluding refrain 'Ierusalem, Ierusalem... (Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn again to the Lord thy God)—thus emphasising the sombre and melancholy effect of the pieces.

Other settings include those by Robert White , Lassus , Palestrina , and De Brito


SEE ALSO

Tenebrae (Maundy)