Tristitia obsedit me (Jacobus Clemens non Papa)

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(Posted 2023-07-21) CPDL #74644:

Editor: Mick Swithinbank (submitted 2023-07-21). Score information: A4, 10 pages, 118 kB Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes: Transposed up a tone.

General Information

Title: Tristitia obsedit me
Composer: Jacobus Clemens non Papa
Lyricist: Girolamo Savonarola
Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SATB
Genre: Sacred, Motet

Language: Latin
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1553 in Ecclesiasticarum cantionum quatuor vocum, liber 1 (Susato), no. 12
2nd published: 1556 in Evangelia dominicorum et festorum dierum tomus sextus (Berg & Neuber), no. 12
3rd published: 1559 in Liber secundus cantionum sacrarum quatuor vocum (Phalèse), no. 2
Description: Published by Susato, Antwerp, 1553. Clemens seems to have had a taste for the penitential motet, and this is one of his very best. The text, by Savonarola, overlaps with that of the famous Infelix ego: it is not identical to the one set by Claude Le Jeune. The setting of the words 'miserere mei' recalls the Psalm 51 plainchant.

External websites:

Original text and translations

Latin text

Tristitia obsedit me. Amici mei sunt in castris eius et facti sunt mihi inimici. Quaecumque video, quaecumque audio, vexilla tristitiae deferunt. Memoria amicorum me contristat, cogitatio peccatorum me premit. Infelix ego qui caelum terramque offendi.
Quid igitur faciam? Desperabo? Absit. Misericors est Deus, pius est salvator meus. Ad te igitur piissime Deus tristis ac moerens venio. Miserere mei Deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.
(Text by Girolamo Savonarola)