The authorship of the motet Tristis est anima mea (My soul is sorrowful) is disputed, but it is usually attributed to Johann Kuhnau, the Cantor of St. Thomas’ School in Leipzig and predecessor of Johann Sebastian Bach. Stylistically, the composition lies clearly within the tradition of polyphonic vocal music. The imitatively structured voices mesh with one another almost like cogwheels. Half steps sounding like sighs, and chromatic phrases characterize the structure of the melodic lines and give expression to the grief-laden content of the lyrics. The lines describe the grief of Jesus on the Mount of Olives in anticipation of the suffering that awaits him on the cross. The motet closes with a vivid setting of the words of Jesus: “And I shall go to be sacrificed – sacrificed for you.“

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Masterworks of Choral Music (MCM)
Masterworks of Choral Music (MCM)

offers you short sacred and secular masterpieces of choral music from the Renaissance to the 20th century.

Masterworks of Choral Music (MCM)
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