I spent some time today on Gaspari as well as IMSLP & CPDL looking at Tenebrae Responsories and am struck by how the vogue for five-part writing seems to have bypassed this genre: almost everything is for 4 voices, or 6 in Gesualdo's case. Do any of you know some for ATTBB that I could pair with Palestrina's Thursday Lessons?
There's an excellent SATBarB setting of "In monte Oliveti" by Zielenski. If you transposed it down a fourth, you could do it for ATTBB, if your 2nd basses have low-D's.
There's also an SATTB (really, AATBarB) setting of "Tristis est anima mea" by Giacobetti that's worth looking at — you could potentially do it with your forces without need for transposition.
Also, there's an SSATB setting of "Tristis est anima mea" by Kuhnau that could be transposed down a fourth — in which case, some low E-flats for the 2nd basses.
I have fond memories of Kuhnau's Tristis with Richard Sparks a few decades ago but am unsure of our high notes. Giacobetti is worth investigating, though, thanks!
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