Lamentation
Judith Lang Zaimont
About this work:
Lamentation (1982)
Text: Bible
For double chorus, mezzo and baritone soli, piano, percussion (25')
Publisher: Sounds Alive!
Commissioned by the Gregg Smith Singers, Philadelphia Singers, Dale Warland Singers and I Cantori (Los Angeles), through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
First Performance: Gregg Smith Singers and Florilegium Chamber Choir, May 1985
"The most moving piece was an aria from 'Lamentation,' a large-scale oratorio dating from 1982. The aria's biblical text ['Ashes are the bread I eat'], which deals with the Jews' exile into Babylonia, was set in a straight forward, atmospheric, syllabic manner. Its stark piano accompaniment and long-breathed, darkly eloquent melodic line (adapted from fragments by the Renaissance madrigalist Carlo Gesualdo) proved extremely apposite."
-- The Atlanta Constitution
Year composed: 1982
Duration: 00:25:00
Ensemble type: Chorus, with or without Solo Voices:Chorus with Keyboard
Instrumentation: 1 Percussion (General), 1 Piano, 2 Soprano, 2 Alto, 2 Tenor, 2 Bass