Video of the Day: 'My friend betrayed me at the sign of a kiss' – Victoria's Tenebrae Responsories
Jonathan Whiting
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
I Fagiolini perform the intimate motet in the surrounds of Milton Abbey
Today's Video of the Day takes us back 450 years to Renaissance Rome with a thoroughly sublime performance of Tomás Luis de Victoria's 'Amicus meus osculi me tradidit signo' (My friend betrayed me at the sign of a kiss) by I Fagiolini. The recording is part of a full album of Victoria's Tenebrae Responsories set for release on 1 March.
'Amicas meus' is the first of 18 motets that make up the Tenebrae Responsories written in 1585 for the various Catholic observances across Holy Week (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday etc.). Each motet is a 'response' to the events of these holy days: 'Amicus meus' details Judas's betrayal of Jesus with a kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper. Despite its dark premise and original grandiose liturgical context, there is a stark sense of empathy and intimacy in both the text and the music.
'Victoria: Tenebrae Responsories' is set for release 1 March