Job 30: 31; 7: 16 [Latin] – My lyre is tuned to mourning, And my instrument to the voice of those who weep. Spare me, O Lord, For my days are as nothing.

Original Latin:

Versa est in luctum cithara mea, Et organum meum in vocem flentium. Parce mihi Domine, Nihil enim sunt dies mei.

Job and His Comforters, Luca Giordano c.a. 1700.
Job and His Comforters, Luca Giordano c.a. 1700.

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“Versa est in luctum,” for unaccompanied choir (SSATTB), composed by Richard Barnard (b. 1977) and first published in 2022.

Versa est in luctum - Richard Barnard - Paragon Singers directed by Sarah Latto

Sung by Paragon Singers, directed by Sarah Latto

Sheet music available for purchase at White Light Publishing

Psalm 91: 4 [Latin] – The Lord will overshadow thee with His shoulders, and under His wings thou shalt trust: His truth shall compass thee with a shield.

Original Latin:

Scapulis suis obumbrabit tibi Dominus et sub pennis ejus sperabis, scuto circumdabit te veritas ejus.

English: Allegoric painting by Mogens Christian Thrane in Sortebrødre Church, Viborg, Denmark. Text: He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge. (Psalm 91,4)
English: Allegoric painting by Mogens Christian Thrane in Sortebrødre Church, Viborg, Denmark. Text: He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge. (Psalm 91,4)

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“Scapulis suis.” 5-voice sacred music offertory composed by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1524-1594)

Offertoria: Scapulis suis

Performed by Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge

Free sheet music at Choral Public Domain Library

Genesis 3: 19b [Latin] – [Remember O Man] In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Original Latin:

Memento homo, quod cinis es, et in cinerem reverteris.

Ashes imposed on the forehead of a Christian on Ash Wednesday
Ashes imposed on the forehead of a Christian on Ash Wednesday

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“Memento homo,” a 6-voice, sacred motet composed by William Byrd (1539-1623), and first published in Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur, no. 18 (1575)

Performed by Alamire, directed by David Skinner

Free sheet music at Choral Public Domain Library

Psalm 31: 16-17a [Latin] – Make thy face to shine upon thy servant, and save me in thy mercy; O Lord, let me not be confounded, for I have called upon thee.

Original Latin:

Illumina faciem tuam super servum tuum, et salvum me fac in misericordia tua: Domine, non confundar, quoniam invocavi te.

Portrait of Carlo Gesualdo
Portrait of Carlo Gesualdo

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“Illumina faciem tuam,” a 5-voice sacred motet composed by Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613), first published in Sacrae cantiones I, no. 18 (1603)

Psalm 31 Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613): Illumina faciem tuam für fünfstimmig gemischten Chor a cappella

Sung by sirventes berlin

Free sheet music available at Choral Public Domain Library