live concert recording
The second-mode tract, Deus deus meus, was sung in the medieval Roman liturgy on Passion Sunday. Sometimes it was sung by a small group of soloists, and sometimes by a single soloist (who, in early medieval Metz, was paid extra for the task, reflecting the huge length and complexity of the chant).
The text is derived from psalm 21 [22]
God, My God, look at me. Why have you forsaken me?
Far from my salvation are the words of my faults
My God, I will cry out through the day and you will not hear, and by night and you will not hear through my folly.
You however live in the holy place, the praise of Israel.
In you our fathers have trusted. They have trusted and you delivered them
To you they cried and they were made safe. In you they trusted and they were not confused.
I however am a worm and not a man. I am the scorn of men and the refuse of the people.
All who saw me mocked me. They spoke with their lips and they shook their heads:
"He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him. Let Him save him since He delights in him."
For truly they examined and looked at me, divided my clothes between them, and on my clothes cast lots.
Free me from the lion's mouth, and from the unicorns' horns free my humility
You who fear the Lord praise him! All the descendents of Jacob magnify him!
It will be told by the Lord to the generation to come, and the heavens will announce
His justice to the people who will be born, for the Lord has pronounced judgment.
We are grateful to the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme for sponsoring the event at which this recording were made.
