Lecons de Tenebres

The tenebrae are among the prayers of the hours of Holy Week in the Catholic Church. Since the 15th century, settings of Jeremiah's lamentations have been an integral part of church services, which, especially in France, were among the musical highlights of this otherwise rather "musicless" period. Lully's father-in-law, Michel Lambert (1610-1696), was court Kapellmeister in Versailles from 1670. His Lecons de tenebres are characterized by a subtle setting of texts, which use sparse but all the more delicately applied ornamentation. Soprano Monique Zanetti and the ensemble Les Temps Presents present us here the Lecons for the Wednesday of Holy Week.