One last "Stabat Mater," this time from a great (contemporary) favorite of mine, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev. Very clearly Baroque influenced (and also a bit Hunt for Red October-y.)

I'm using Girolamo Abos' setting of "Stabat Mater" today because it's not quite as sober as some of the others, and today is Sunday, after all.

Until I started poking around a few days ago, I didn't even know that Domenico Scarlatti had written a "Stabat Mater." But he had, and it's lovely.

Once again, "The Wise Thief," performed this time by the almost-impossibly low voices of the Men's Choir of the Valaam Singing Culture Institute.

Following up on the thread begun yesterday, here's a complete "Stabat Mater," this time from Antonio Caldara.

Is there one who would not weep, 
Whelm'd in miseries so deep
Christ's dear Mother to behold?

That day will be one of weeping
on which shall rise again from the embers
the guilty man, to be judged.
Therefore spare him, O God.

 I called upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, deliver my soul. 

The sorrows of death have compassed me:
and the perils of hell have found me.
I met with trouble and sorrow: 
And I called upon the name of the Lord.
O Lord, deliver my soul. 

Give almes of thy goods,
and turn never thy face from any poor man,
and then the face of the Lord
shall not be turned away from thee.

In some cases, "Razboinika blagorazumnago" is translated as "The Wise Thief" or "The Good Thief." But some places render it "The Judicious Villain," which I love.

While my body here decays,
may my soul Thy goodness praise,
Safe in Paradise with Thee.

Today's selection is the wonderful Requiem pour Voix d'Hommes of Pierre Bouteiller, a Baroque Frenchman most famous for this very work (and for very little else). After listening to it, though, I'm really not sure why we're not more familiar with him.

Deliver me, O Lord, 
from eternal death, 
on that fearful day
when the heavens are moved and the earth
when you will come to judge the world through fire.

Let the hosts of heaven celebrate you, Joseph,
Let all the choirs of Christendom resound you
who, famous for your merits,
was joined to the glorious Virgin in chaste wedlock.

Posting this one on Sunday because it doesn't feel particularly "Miserere-able" to me....not very Lenten.

Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuams

Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness

The wise thief didst Thou make worthy
of Paradise in a single moment, O Lord. 
By the wood of Thy Cross, 
illumine me also and save me!

A pair of Russian "Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me's."

Muse in your heart the seven words that Jesus pronounced
in bitter sorrows when he was on the cross, covered with wounds.