One of the pieces our choir had planned to sing for the Tenebrae service on Good Friday was my own “The Tree of Life.” Here is a recording with scrolling music so that you can meditate on the text.
I also recorded two organ pieces by Johannes Brahms as my own musical meditation for Good Friday. “Herzlich tut mich verlangen” is the tune we know as “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” Here is the third stanza:
What language shall I borrow
to thank thee, dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
O make me thine forever;
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love to thee.
“Herzliebster Jesu” is the melody we sing with the words “Ah, Holy Jesus.” Here is stanza four:
For me, kind Jesus, was thine incarnation,
thy mortal sorrow, and thy life’s oblation,
thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion,
for my salvation.
