Good Friday Service of Tenebrae
St. Catwg's Church, Llangattock
Friday April 7th at 2pm
All welcome!
We mark Holy Week with a traditional service of Tenebrae (shadows). During this dramatic liturgy, where candles are extinguished one by one to mark the stages of Christ's passion, the choir sings a sequence of complementary motets to highlight the emotional charge of events.
Central to these musical reflections will be a performance of William Byrd's motet Infelix Ego (Unhappy am I), considered to be one of his greatest compositions. This is a large-scale setting of an introspective and penitential text by the charismatic Italian friar Savonarola, the intensity of Byrd's music taking on even greater significance when we remember the composer's longing for a restoration of the Catholic faith during the turbulent reign of Elizabeth I.
This is also one of the choir's performances this year that will celebrate the 400th anniversary of Byrd's death. Other masterpieces by the composer will feature in the Unicorn Singers' follow up concert, Byrd's-eye View, in Abergavenny on 17th June: another wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself in the sublime music of this extraordinary composer.
Admission
FREE