Improperia (From the Catholic Encyclopedia, no less...)

[Alex Jacobowitz <alexbjacobowitz...>]

Improperia
 

The Improperia are the reproaches which in the liturgy
of the Office of Good Friday the Saviour is made to
utter against the Jews, who, in requital for all the
Divine favours and particularly for the delivery from
the bondage of Egypt and safe conduct into the
Promised Land, inflicted on Him the ignominies of the
Passion and a cruel death. It is during the Adoration
of the Cross that these touching remonstrances are
rendered by the choir. In all they consist of three
distinct parts. Of these the third -- composed of the
antiphon "Crucem tuam adoramus", the first verse of
Psalm lxvi, the versicle "Crux fidelis", and the hymn
"Pange lingua gloriosi lauream" -- does not belong to
the Improperia strictly so called. The first part
consists of three reproaches, namely, the Popule meus"
(Mich., vi, 3), "Ego eduxi" (Jer., ii, 21) and "Quid
ultra" (Is., v, 2, 40), the Trisagion (Sanctus Deus,
Santus fortis, Sanctus immortalis) being repeated
after each in the Latin and Greek languages. The
second part contains nine reproaches pervaded by the
same strain of remonstrance. Each of these is a verse
taken from some portion of the Scriptures and followed
in every instance by the "Popule meus" as a sort of
refrain. Originally these striking sentences were
rendered to a plain-song melody. In the year 1560
Palestrina gave them such an appropriate and beautiful
musical setting that Pius IV ordered it to be used in
the Sixtine Chapel, where one may still hear on Good
Friday each year these exquisite compositions, which
are unsurpassed in simple beauty, dramatic feeling,
and depth of impressiveness. The best edition of
Palestrina's "Improperia" is probably that published
by Dr. Proske in the fourth volume of "Musica Divina"
in 1863. This version is founded on the
Altaemps-Otthoboni MS. preserved in the Vatican
Library (cf. Grove, "Dictionary of Music", s.v.). The
precise date of the appearance of the Improperia in
the liturgy is not ascertained. Definite references to
it are found in documents of the ninth and tenth
centuries, and even traces exist in manuscripts of a
much earlier date. In his work "De antiquâ ecclesiæ
disciplinâ", Martène (c. xxiii) gives a number of
fragmentary Ordines, some of which go back as far as
600. Many others mention the Improperia. In the
beginning the order was not quite what it is now, and
in many places the officiant himself at the Good
Friday Office sang the verses of the reproaches, while
the people joined in the responses or refrain. Thus
the representative character of these moving words
seems to have been more effectively observed. 



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