Music Monday: Miserere mei, Deus
Lent begins this week, so I thought a penitential song was in order, so here is Misere Mei, Deus which is a song based on Psalm 51:
Miserere mei, Deus: secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.
Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam.
According unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies
remove my transgressions.
Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: et a peccato meo munda me.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquities, and cleanse me from my sin.
Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco:
et peccatum meum contra me est semper.
I knowingly confess my transgressions:
and my sin is ever before me.
Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci:
ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum judicaris.
Against Thee only have I sinned, and done evil before Thee:
that they may be justified in Thy sayings, and might they overcome when I am judged.
Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus:
cor contritum, et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies.
Sacrifices of God are broken spirits:
dejected and contrite hearts, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion:
ut aedificentur muri Ierusalem.
Deal favorably, O Lord, in Thy good pleasure unto Zion:
build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae, oblationes, et holocausta:
tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.
Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with small and large burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon your altar.
The Estonian Orthodox composer Arvo Part has done a setting of the Miserere.