Concert in the Dark – Good Friday at Trinitatis
Concerto Copenhagen and Lars Ulrik Mortensen present an Easter concert featuring music that puts into words and conveys the emotions behind the indescribable and incomprehensible: the suffering and hardship endured by people as a result of war, violence, and destruction.
When we are faced with war, hardship, death, suffering, and destruction, it can be difficult to find words to express the feelings of grief, helplessness, and despair we experience. One of the oldest texts that manages to put these feelings into words is found in the Book of Lamentations in the Old Testament, written over 2,500 years ago. The Lamentations describe the people’s despair, distress, and suffering following the devastating wars of Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon, which brought about the downfall of the Kingdom of Judah in 587 BCE. Judea, known from the Bible, is the ancient name of the region that even today suffers from acts of war, violence, and destruction.
In the Roman Catholic liturgy, excerpts from the Lamentations are included as readings in Tenebrae, the Matins service, and the evening prayers on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Tenebrae—Latin for “darkness”—refers to the fact that the service takes place in darkness, as the lights in the church are extinguished one by one. These excerpts from the Lamentations form the basis for musical settings by many composers, including the Czech Jan Dismas Zelenka. He was affiliated with the court chapel in Dresden and composed music based on the Lamentations for Easter in 1722. Zelenka is often referred to as Bach’s Catholic counterpart, as he, like Bach, is a master at expressing human emotions through music. His six Lamentationes pro hebdomada sancta —six lamentations for Holy Week—are no exception: Zelenka’s music for the Lamentations’ texts puts feelings and words to precisely what many of us experience as indescribable and incomprehensible—human suffering and distress caused by war, violence, and destruction.
Concerto Copenhagen, conducted by Lars Ulrik Mortensen, will perform Zelenka’s *6 Lamentationes pro hebdomada sancta* on Good Friday, March 29, at 7:30 p.m. at Trinitatis Church. During the concert, the lights in the church will gradually be dimmed, and together we will allow ourselves to be enveloped by the darkness.