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Tenebrae factae sunt, dum crucifixissent Jesum Judaei: et [circa]1 horam nonam exclamavit Jesus voce magna: Deus meus, ut quid me dereliquisti? Et inclinato capite, emisit spiritum. Exclamans Jesus voce magna, ait: Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesHistorical note: there is no basis in scripture or history for the portrayal of the Jewish people as the crucifiers of Jesus Christ. This long-standing charge of collective guilt was eventually repudiated by the Catholic Church at the second Vatican Council in 1965. Performers may opt to change the last word in the first line to "Nazarenum" instead (with thanks to Ian Pomerantz).
1 Charpentier: "circam"Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1634 - 1704), "Responsorium", H. 129 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by (Johann) Michael Haydn (1737 - 1806), "Tenebræ factæ sunt", MH 162 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "Tenebrae factae sunt" [ chorus ], from Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence, no. 3, motet [sung text checked 1 time]
Set in a modified version by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Lau Kanen) , "Het was donker geworden"
- ENG English (Ahmed E. Ismail) , "Shadows covered the earth", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail
This text was added to the website: 2005-03-22
Line count: 6
Word count: 39
Shadows covered the earth, when the Jews crucified Jesus, and toward the ninth hour Jesus let forth a great cry, saying: "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" And lowering his head, he gave up the spirit. Jesus, crying out in a great voice, said: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."
Note: if the change suggested in the footnote below the original on the left-hand side of this page is applied, the words "the Jews crucified Jesus" would become "when they crucified Jesus of Nazareth"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2005 by Ahmed E. Ismail, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in Latin by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist
This text was added to the website: 2005-03-22
Line count: 6
Word count: 53