William Byrd - Domine secundum actum meum

From our album "Penitence & Lamentation" (2023)
https://www.scribestudios.us/product-page/penitence-lamentation

William Byrd’s “Domine secundum actum meum” (“Lord, according to my acts”) opens with a feeling of pensive disquiet, displaying a restlessness that manifests both in the theme itself (which shifts up and down by minor seconds) and in its frequent shifts between tonal centers.

This texture grows in intensity until suddenly arriving at a far more solid and declamatory statement of noli me judicare (“do not judge me”). In the second half there is clear text painting in the line majestatem tuam (“your majesty”) in which all lines rise upwards in stepwise motion and the top line reaches its highest note of the entire piece, which is stated only once and never matched. Overall Byrd paints a picture of someone who feels anxiety and unease about their actions yet feels clear resolve in appealing to God for absolution. - Josh Haberman

***
Domine, secundum actum meum noli me iudicare:
nihil dignum in conspectu tuo egi.
Ideo deprecor maiestatem tuam,
ut tu Deus deleas iniquitatem meam.

O Lord, judge me not according to my acts:
there is nothing worthy in thy sight that I have done.
Wherefore I beseech thy majesty,
that thou, O God, blot out my transgressions.

***
Produced by Scribe Studios
The Byrd Ensemble, directed by Markdavin Obenza
Mean: Sarra S. Doyle
Tenor 1: Orrin Doyle
Tenor 2: Sam Faustine
Tenor 3: David Hendrix
Baritone: Thomas Segen
Bass: Clayton Moser

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