Today, we pick up the narrative as Jesus and the disciples discuss where to eat their passover meal. Jesus refers to his betrayal, and the disciples wonder who it will be. Jesus also tells Peter of his coming denial.
Bach – Matthew Passion – section 2 (15mins)
Gesualdo – Tristis est anima mea
Tristis est anima mea is the second responsory of the Tenebrae for Maundy Thursday. The Latin text refers to Christ’s Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and is set here by the Italian renaissance composer, Carlo Gesualdo, in typical harmonic style. It is a piece full of description and word painting, in which the sorrow and pain of the test is palpable, and the depiction of the disciples running away (‘Vos fugam’) vividly portrayed.
My soul is sorrowful even unto death;
stay you here, and watch with me.
Now ye shall see a multitude, that will surround me.
Ye shall run away, and I will go to be sacrificed for you.
Behold the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Ye shall run away, and I will go to be sacrificed for you.