This is excerpted from the larger work, To Know the Path. The ninth hour is biblically significant because it is the time Jesus died and the temple veil was torn in two. The Lamentations passage features a great crowd passing by a scene of utter sorrow. This is layered with the soloist singing the Stabat Mater text “There stood the mother grieving, beside the cross weeping”. In the word “omnes”, close to ‘m’ and sing through the hum as marked in the score. The choir “mob” becomes oblivious to the soloist’s pain and suffering as her cries are overtaken by their loud interjections starting at letter D. In m. 97 sing hushed with some breathiness as the crowd finally disperses leaving the mother bereft and alone.

– Linda Kachelmeier

Text

O vos omnes,
qui transistis per viam
attendite et videte
si est dolor,
sicut dolor meus.
Stabat Mater dolorosa
Juxta crucem lacrimosa,

–Lamentations 1:12 and Stabat Mater

Translation:
O all you
who pass along the way
behold and see
if there is any sorrow
like unto my sorrow.
There stood the Mother grieving,
beside the cross weeping.

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