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Couperin: 3 Leçons des Ténèbres
BG-613, original LP cover

The Lamentations of Jeremiah, the section in the Bible that follows the Book of Jeremiah the Prophet, is a set of compelling verses of specific structure. These verses demand a high degree of depth and discipline from any composer setting them musically. Their poetry has challenged the imagination of a long line of distinguished composers, beginning with the Renaissance master, Ockeghem, and including Arcadelt, Claude le Jeune, Morales, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Palestrina, and François Couperin. In the Jewish tradition, the text is adopted on days of fasting and mourning; in the Christian tradition, the musical work is sung during Tenebrae (Ténèbres, the "dark hours" marked by the extinguishing of candles) celebrated the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of Holy Week before Easter.

Both Tallis and François Couperin (1668-1733) set the text for the lessons as follows: the work begins with the introductory line Incipit Lamentation Jeremiae Prophetae announcing the source of the Lesson. The first five stanzas are then sung, each stanza prefaced by a singing of the Hebrew letter (Aleph, Beth, Ghimel, Daleth, He…) which identifies it. The fifth stanza closes with a line of text, Jerusalem convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum, enjoining Jerusalem to turn to the Lord. Tallis's work concludes there. But Couperin's continues with Lessons Two and Three, both of which conclude, like the first lesson, with the exhortation to turn to the Lord. Like others before them, Tallis and Couperin followed Gregorian example in setting all of the text, from the announcement (Incipit Lamentatio) to the exhortation (Jerusalem convertere), including musical renditions of the Hebrew letters.

Couperin provided a preface for the first printing (1714) of his Lessons, indicating that three such sets, comprising three Lessons apiece, were composed, one set for each of the three days of the Tenebrae service. However, the edition contained only the three Lessons for the first day, Couperin noting simply that he lacked time to prepare the two other sets for publication, and promising that the six remaining Lessons would be forthcoming. But the two remaining sets have since disappeared. From the quality of the one surviving set, one is impressed with how considerable a loss this must be. Couperin, best known today for the charm, sweetness and dignity of his harpsichord pieces, is at the height of his power in these settings of the Jeremiah texts. He uses just one voice with continuo for the first two lessons, and two voices with continuo for the third. (This pattern, Couperin tells us in his preface, also obtained for the two remaining sets.)

The Hebrew letters are set as vocalizations on the syllables of the word. Some of the vocalizations are ornate and extended; all are charming interludes, often serving to offer a contrast to, and a relief from, the tensions that accumulate during the course of the stanzas.

Couperin's skill translates into melody what, for the composer, the words truly mean. He transforms the verbal rhythms into musical rhythms of recitative and arioso. His continuo writing controls and liberates the flow of melody through chord sequences, dissonance and resolution. His ornamentation acts as an organic part of the vocal line, an accent of feeling which renders the line more poignant. Couperin has the sense for the right interval to convert a line of text into an eloquent vocal gesture.

It cannot be claimed for any of the great settings that its composer has encompassed the full range of the prophet's anger and understanding, or has caught every nuance of harshness and tenderness in the voice of the man who wept then for Jerusalem. Each composer finds his own voice through which he interprets the poetry of the prophet. Lasso found his in an unbending austerity and in an impassioned dignity; Tallis in a dark and quiet loneliness; Couperin in the intimacy of sorrow, and above all in a personal poignancy keyed (as in stanza beth of the first Lesson) to such intimate and poignant lines as "She weepeth sore in the night… Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her."

– From notes by Denis Stevens and Abraham Veinus

Originally released as Vanguard/The Bach Guild BG-613

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