Video Information

• Choir: St Peter's Singers of Leeds
• Piece: Emendemus in melius
• Composer:  William Byrd
• Conductor:  Simon Lindley
• Voices:  SATB
• Genres: A cappella, Classical, Renaissance
• William Byrd (1543-1623)
  Emendemus in melius
  
  Emendemus in melius quae ignoranter peccavimus; ne subito praeoccupati die mortis, quaeramus spatium poenitentiae, et invenire non possimus. Attende, Domine, et miserere; quia peccavimus t...  moreWilliam Byrd (1543-1623)
  Emendemus in melius
  
  Emendemus in melius quae ignoranter peccavimus; ne subito praeoccupati die mortis, quaeramus spatium poenitentiae, et invenire non possimus. Attende, Domine, et miserere; quia peccavimus tibi. 
  Baruch, Chapter 3, Verse 2
  Versus:Adjuva nos, Deus salutaris noster, et propter honorem[gloriam] nominis tui libera nos. 
  Psalm 78, Verse 9a
  
  Let us amend for the better in those things in which we have sinned through ignorance;
   lest suddenly overtaken by the day of death, we seek space for repentance, and be not able to find it. Hearken, O Lord, and have mercy: for we have sinned against thee.
  Verse:Help us, O God of our salvation, and for the honour [glory] of thy name deliver us. 
  Psalm, 78, Verse 9a
  
  This noble and deeply-felt penitential motet proper to the first day [Ash Wednesday] and the first Sunday [Quadragesima] of the Lenten season is one of the very finest such works from the golden age of English polyphonic music. It comes from the Cantiones Sacrae collection of 1575 – a joint publishing enterprise by Byrd and his older contemporary Thomas Tallis [1505-1585]. The soaring fervour of the versicle is quite remarkable.
  
  This performance was recorded at the Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels, Thornhill, West Yorkshire, as part of the Singers' recital of Passiontide Polyphony and organ solos given on Sunday 2nd April 2017. Dr Simon Lindley, the choir's Music Director since its foundation in 1977, directed and also played the organ solos.
  
  More information about St Peter's Singers, including details of upcoming concerts, recitals and liturgical performances, may be found at our website www.stpeters-singers.org.uk or on our Facebook page 'St Peter's Singers of Leeds'.  less