Thursday 3 March 2022 Evensong

This webcast features the first part of Thomas Tallis' setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The text is taken from Lamentations (Lam. 1, vv.1-2, and Lam. 1, vv.3-5). After the introduction, each verse is preceded by the choir singing letters of the Hebrew alphabet: ALEPH, BETH. Tallis ends this part of the piece with a repeated refrain: Ierusalem, Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum ("Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return unto the Lord thy God"). Other composers such as Alonso Lobo and William Byrd have also written settings of the same text.