This edition was prepared by Barry Johnston — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Crucifixion
Staff Notation • Sacred
Preview
0
0
2 editions of this piece
Different typesettings and voicings of the same work. This page shows the main edition; the others are below.
STB · Barry Johnston
Preview
Subscribed as
Want Sunday picks sent to another address too?
Free weekly email
Your choir should not be left out in what's trending
Sunday mass selections, psalms, and trending songs in your area — straight to your inbox.
Crucifixion by Walter Janes — Lyrics
In finem, pro susceptione matutina. Psalmus David.
Deus, Deus meus, respice in me: quare me dereliquisti? longe a salute mea verba delictorum meorum.
Deus meus, clamabo per diem, et non exaudies; et nocte, et non ad insipientiam mihi.
Tu autem in sancto habitas, laus Israël.
In te speraverunt patres nostri; speraverunt, et liberasti eos.
Ad te clamaverunt, et salvi facti sunt; in te speraverunt, et non sunt confusi.
Ego autem sum vermis, et non homo; opprobrium hominum, et abjectio plebis.
Omnes videntes me deriserunt me; locuti sunt labiis, et moverunt caput.
Speravit in Domino, eripiat eum: salvum faciat eum, quoniam vult eum.
Quoniam tu es qui extraxisti me de ventre, spes mea ab uberibus matris meae.
In te projectus sum ex utero; de ventre matris meae Deus meus es tu:
ne discesseris a me, quoniam tribulatio proxima est, quoniam non est qui adjuvet.
Circumdederunt me vituli multi; tauri pingues obsederunt me.
Aperuerunt super me os suum, sicut leo rapiens et rugiens.
Sicut aqua effusus sum, et dispersa sunt omnia ossa mea: factum est cor meum tamquam cera liquescens in medio ventris mei.
Aruit tamquam testa virtus mea, et lingua mea adhaesit faucibus meis: et in pulverem mortis deduxisti me.
Read full lyrics
About Crucifixion
This setting for treble, bass, and tenor voices opens with a striking musical depiction of the text's anguish. The STB voices create a rich, yet agitated, texture as the soloist's lament is accompanied by the more agitated interjections of the choir. The text is a direct setting of Psalm 21 (22) in Latin, beginning with the cry "Deus, Deus meus, respice in me: quare me dereliquisti?" The setting moves from this profound expression of abandonment to a more hopeful contemplation of trust in God, drawing on the verses "In te speraverunt patres nostri" and concluding with "Speravit in Domino, eripiat eum: salvum faciat eum, quoniam vult eum." The composer masterfully conveys the emotional arc of the psalm, from deep suffering to ultimate reliance on divine deliverance.
