The righteous perishes are the words with which the 57th chapter of the Book of Isaiah start. In Christianity, Isaiah 57:1–2 is associated with the death of Christ, leading to liturgical use of the text at Tenebrae: the 24th responsory for Holy Week, "Ecce quomodo moritur justus" (See how the just dies), is based on this text. More generally, the text is associated with the death of loved ones and is used at burials. As such, and in other versions and translations, the Bible excerpt has been set to music.
Text
shifts between singular and plural, contrasting a group whom the prophetic tradition approves and others who are strongly condemned. in WEB The righteous perishes, And no man takes it to heart; Merciful men are taken away, While no one considers That the righteous is taken away from evil. He shall enter into peace; They shall rest in their beds, Each one walking in his uprightness. NKJV "The righteous" (KJV, NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT, NRSV): or "the just man" (NAB); "Good people" (TEV); "The godly" (NET Bible).Note [a] on Isaiah 57:1 in NET Bible "Evil" or "the face of evil"Note on Isaiah 57:1 in NKJV These verses complain the (apparently violent) death of the righteous that went 'unnoticed and unlamented'.
Responsory "Ecce quomodo moritur justus" "Ecce quomodo moritur justus", in the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church the 24th of 27 Tenebrae responsories, or the sixth responsory for Holy Saturday, is based on . In the Tenebrae service of the Holy Week this responsory is preceded by a reading taken from Saint Augustine's Commentary on Psalm 64 (63) § 13, interpreting (Vulgate Ps. 63:9 – "Their own tongues shall ruin them") in the light of (the soldiers at Jesus' grave bribed to lie about the whereabouts of the corpse).Catholic Church 1875, pp. 400–401Guéranger 1870, pp. 533–534Augustine The Versus of the responsory derives from . VulgateIsaias 53:7–8 and 57:1–2 in Vulgate Responsory Translation
Settings of the responsory are included in Tomás Luis de Victoria's Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae,Victoria 1585 Carlo Gesualdo's Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia,Gesualdo 1611 Jan Dismas Zelenka's Responsoria pro hebdomada sancta (ZWV 55)Zelenka and Franz Liszt's Responsorien und Antiphonen (S.30).Liszt
A 16th century motet by Marc'Antonio Ingegneri on the Latin text was published around 1967 in an arrangement by Maynard Klein and with "Behold how the righteous perish" as English translation.Klein Palestrina set the responsory for two sopranos, alto and choir.Palestrina
Jacob Handl (Jacobus Gallus) published his setting of Ecce quomodo moritur justus as No. VIII under the heading "De Passione Domini Nostri Iesv Christi" (On the Passion of Jesus Christ our Lord) in his Opus Musicum II.Gallus 1587Gleason et al. 1988 The subtitle of the 1587 publication reads "Qvae Ex Sancto Catholicae Ecclesiae Vsv Ita Svnt Dispositae, vt omni tempore inseruire queant" (Which are herewith offered for use in the Catholic Church, in such fashion that they can be adopted throughout the liturgical year). The Versus in Handl's setting is different from the Versus of the 24th Tenebrae responsory.Handl Versus (Handl's setting) Translation
As in 17th century France the Tenebrae services, including the Répons de ténèbres, were held at the vespers of the preceding evening, for example Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Ecce quomodo, H 131 is part of his Répons de ténèbres du Vendredi saint (Tenebrae responsories of Good Friday).BnF
In the 18th century Georg Reutter produced a SATB setting of the responsory for the ceremonies of the Holy Week in the Wiener Hofburgkapelle (Vienna court chapel).Kainhofer 2009, p. 3 Another SATB setting was composed by Franz Joseph Aumann, to which an accompaniment by three trombones was added by Bruckner in 1879.Harten 1996, p. 69
In the 20th century Francis Poulenc included "Ecce quomodo moritur justus" as the last in his Sept répons des ténèbres, FP 181, composed 1961.
The Episcopal Church provides a single Tenebrae service on Wednesday evening, the day before Maundy Thursday. That service reduces the total number of Tenebrae lessons, each followed by a responsory, to nine. Ecce quomodo moritur is the sixth responsory, and it follows after a reading from Augustine's commentary on Psalm 55 (54).Church Publishing 2004, pp. 74–83
In Lutheranism Isaiah 57:1–2 was a theme for funeral sermons of the Reformation, among others at a funeral service for Martin Luther in Eisleben.McKee 1999, p. 127Walther 2008, p. 161 It also, along with Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 63: 1–3, was used in the context of the Passion story.
Handl's Ecce quomodo moritur justus Jacob Handl's Ecce quomodo moritur justus motet was sung at Protestant burials in the 16th century.Jeż 2007, p. 40 In 1682, Gottfried Vopelius published Handl's motet with a singable German translation ("Siehe, wie dahin stirbt der Gerechte") in the Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch, for performance on Good Friday.Gottfried Vopelius (editor). Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch. Leipzig: Christoph Klinger, 1682, pp. 263–267. Handl's motet was performed on Good Friday in Protestant churches in Wrocław and Leipzig.CPDL The music of Handl's setting, by that time perceived as a Protestant funeral motet,Unger 2010, p. 175 is quoted in George Frideric Handel's Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline, HWV 264.Bartlett 2008, p. IV
Der Gerechte kömmt um
Der Gerechte kömmt um, a chorus appearing in a pasticcio Passion oratorio from the early 1750s, has a German version of Isaiah 57:1–2 as text.Melamed 1995 pp. 148–149 It is an arrangement attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach of a SSATB setting of Tristis est anima mea, a motet attributed to Johann Kuhnau.Bach Digital The arrangement may have been a stand-alone funeral motet.Morton 1992
References
Sources
Bible quotes Vulgate: Isaias 57:1–2 and 53:7–8 at Wikisource. World English Bible (WEB): at Wikisource
Other Augustine of Hippo. Exposition on Psalm 64 (63). at Bach Digital. Der Gerechte kömmt um BWV deest; BC C 8 (= BC D 10/3) BnF. Répons de ténèbres du Vendredi saint. 6e répons. H 131 by Marc Antoine Charpentier Catholic Church The Complete Office of Holy Week According to the Roman Missal and Breviary, in Latin and English, pp. 400–401 Benziger brothers, 1875 Church Publishing The Book of Occasional Services • 2003, pp. 74–83. New York, 2004. Clifford Bartlett (editor). George Frideric Handel: Israel in Egypt Part I – The Ways of Zion do Mourn Carus Verlag No. 55.264, 2008.
CPDL. Ecce quomodo moritur justus by Jacob Handl at Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki) Jacobus Gallus (Jacob Handl). Opus Musicum II (Secvndvs Tomvs. Mvsici Operis, Harmoniarvm Qvatvor, Qvinqve, Sex, Octo Et Plvrivm Vocvm : Qvae Ex Sancto Catholicae Ecclesiae Vsv Ita Svnt Dispositae, vt omni tempore inseruire queant. Ad Dei Opt: Max: laudem, et Ecclesiae sanctae decus / Avthore Iacobo Hándl / Pragae, Typis Nigrinianis. Anno M.D.LXXXVII). Georgius Nigrinus, Prague, 1587. Carlo Gesualdo. Harold Gleason, Warren Becker, Catherine Gleason. Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, p. 174. Alfred Music Publishing, 1988. Prosper Guéranger, translated by Laurence Shepherd. Passiontide and Holy Week, Volume VI of The Liturgical Year, pp. 533–534. Dublin, 1870. Jacob Handl (Jacobus Gallus). Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch. , Salzburg, 1996. . Tomasz Jeż. "The Motets of Jacob Handl in Inter-confessional Silesian Liturgical Practice" in De musica disserenda III/2, 2007, pp. 37–48 Reinhold Kainhofer (editor). Ecce quomodo moritur by Georg Reutter. Vienna: Edition Kainhofer, 2009. Maynard Klein. Behold how the righteous perish : motet / Marco Ingegneri ; arr. Maynard Klein ; English text, M.K. at the website of the National Library of Australia Franz Liszt. Elsie Anne McKee. Katharina Schütz Zell. 1. The life and thought of a sixteenth-century reformer, p. 127. BRILL, 1999.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Melvin P. Unger. Historical Dictionary of Choral Music, p. 175. Scarecrow Press, 2010. Tomás Luis de Victoria Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther. Sermons and prayers for Reformation and Luther commemorations, p. 161. Joel Baseley, 2008. Jan Dismas Zelenka Ecce quomodo at
External links