Ai Horton, “Laments for a Modern World”

Chapter 1: Defining the Lament

IN THIS SECTION: 

1.1 The act of lamentation

1.2 Lamentation of death

1.21 Mourning clothes

1.22 Funerary practices

1.23 Mourning death as a profession

1.3 Lamentation as a part of ritual leave-taking

1.4 Romantic Lamentation

1.41 Marriage as a social contract

1.5 Musical Laments of western Europe

1.51 List of 17^th-century works used in this study

Chapter 2: Expressions of grief

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Introduction

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Appendix A: English translations of 17^th-century Lament texts

Appendix B: Texts of Laments for a Modern World

Bibliography

1.1 The act of lamentation

The act of lamentation is deep-seated as a human expression of grief, mourning, regret, and remorse, and is a core subject of study in the arts. Since the beginning of our documented history, the act of lamentation has appeared in a wide variety of literary, visual, dramatic, and musical works, even going so far as to title one of the books of the Old Testament: ‘Lamentations’. Traditionally, an artistic work featuring lamentation focused on a specific lament-triggering event and attempted to recreate the subsequent sentiments and emotions. Lamentation often focused on the death of a loved one (such as the Mother Mary lamenting over the body of Jesus) or a ritual leave-taking (such as the so-called bridal lament), and were used to help process feelings of intense grief. Laments from a romantic standpoint are also common, particularly in dramatic musical works where the narrative was taken from Greek and Roman mythology. In order to gain a better understanding of why a musical Lament would be composed, we will first look at some of the circumstances that would traditionally involve an act of lamentation.

1.2 Lamentation of death

Although the death of a loved one was not necessarily the most popular choice of subject for musical Laments, it is certainly the most prevalent cause for lamentation throughout history.¹ In the 17^th century, formal funerary customs strayed away from natural displays of emotion and instead focused on the observance of religious piety and a strict adherence to social customs, which could include physical symbols, regimented funeral rites, or even the hiring of professional mourners.

1.21 Mourning clothes

Mourning clothes and other physical symbols were considered proper among the upper social classes, and guidelines surrounding the donning of specific items were allocated based on an individual’s relationship to the deceased and the length of time that had passed since the death. While specific customs varied between nations and regions, these items would generally include black clothing, with the specific style and fabric dependant on the wealth and position of the bereaved. Mourning rings carved with the name of the deceased and other wearable memento mori (reminders of death) came into fashion towards the end of the century. Widowed women would often continue to wear their original wedding bands.

Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, “Margarita Theresa (age 14), in mourning for the death of her father, King Philip IV of Spain”, 1666 – oil on canvas (Museo del Prado, Spain).

Note the long black dress with added hood (the hood and train are a symbol of her high social status within the mourning garb). The rings on her left hand may also have included a mourning ring. Three of the figures in the background are also in mourning garb – the fourth appears to be a member of the household staff.

Leandro Bassano, “Portrait of a widow at her devotions”, early 1600s – oil on canvas (Private Collection).

The widow wears a hooded black gown and has her original wedding ring on her left ring finger.

1.22 Funerary practices

While the western funerary practices of today are often focused on remembering and celebrating the deceased as an individual, the rituals following a death in the 17^th century were more strictly outlined and formalized. In Anglican services, the “Book of Common Prayer” outlined the exact texts that should be read throughout the burial ceremony. As such, sermons within funerary services were rare, and there was little room for individual interjections of family member or clergy. The text below dictates the execution of the burial process at the funeral.

Then while the earth all be cast upon the body by some standing by, the Priest shall say.

Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himselfe the soule of our deare brother here departed, we therfore commit his body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternall life, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may bee like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe.

Then all be said or sung.

I Heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, from henceforth blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord. Even so sayeth the Spirite, that they rest from their labours.²

Even when sermons were included, they almost always directed attendees back to the sanctity of God’s word. According to Frances Dillingham, an English Protestant cleric in the early 1600s, funerary sermons should be used to remind attendees of their own mortality and the eventual judgement of their sins.

And touching the use of funeral Sermons: it is not heathenish for ostentation sake, and for vaine pompe, nor onely to declare the love which the living did beare unto the dead, neither only to speake of the vertues of the dead, but indeede to use of them is this: to admonish the living of great and weightie matters, of the frailty and shortnesse of mans life, of the causes of death: namely sinne, and the wrath of God against sinne, and the wrath of God against sinne; also to put men in minde of sure comforts against death: namely, remission of sinnes, and deliverance from hell by the pretious death of Christ Jesus: yet further, Funerall Sermons serve to admonish men of the resurrection of our bodies, laid in earth like seedes, and of the last iudgement, which all must undergoe.³

Catholic funerals also followed a rigid framework in the form of a Requiem mass (Introit, Kyrie, Gradual, Dies Irae, Offertory, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Lux aeterna, Pie Jesu, Libera me, In paradisum). The formality of these Christian funerary practices suggests a personal distancing from the subject and help to explain why they were not particularly popular for use in Lament settings.

1.23 Mourning death as a profession

While emotional displays of mourning were not written into the funerary ceremonies themselves, evidence of professional mourners appear throughout European history, and still exist on a smaller scale to this day. The emergence of professional mourners seems to predate the rise of Christianity, which is perhaps why their practices sit so far outside of the aforementioned funereal structures. The first record of a funeral lamenter in literature is Ninshubur, servant to the Mesopotamian Goddess Inanna who appears in the poem “Inanna’s Descent into the Underworld”.⁴ In this text, Inanna asks Ninshubur to sing a Lament and play a drum for her should she not return from the Underworld. This combination of singing and drum playing also took hold in what is now modern-day Sicily, where professional mourners were known to exist well into the 19^th century and the beating of a drum and may still guide funeral processions today.⁵

In Ireland, keeners were hired to attend funerals and wakes; a custom derived from Celtic traditions.⁶ These keeners were always women, usually elderly and often widows, who would wail or ‘keen’ over the body as the death rites were being performed. Another figure of grief deriving from Celtic lore are banshees, who were believed to be otherworldly attendants (usually female) associated with a particular family and would appear and wail when a death or other misfortune was about to fall upon their family.

Even within the texts of the Old Testament, allusions are made to the prevalence of professional mourners:

Thus said the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:⁷

Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all the streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.⁸

This second verse, taken from the book of Amos, suggests a professional element in the calling of the farmers to join in the wailing, therefore designating lamentation as an acquired skill. The prevalence of professional mourners in the 17^th century helps to delineate the ritualistic aspects of mourning and affirms the cathartic nature of certain vocalized gestures that occur in musical Laments.

1.3 Lamentation as a part of ritual leave-taking

A ritual leave-taking is an event in which a person and/or persons permanently departs from their current situation. The act of marriage was considered as such an occasion, as a bride would be leaving her home to join her husband. The act of lamentation would be on the part of the bride over leaving her own family behind to join that of her husband, or the bride’s family on losing their daughter to the same. While bridal laments and other ritual leave-takings likely occurred on a small scale in western Europe, these traditions were more common in eastern Europe and Asia. As such, bridal laments and laments written in reference to other ritual leave-takings were not included in western European musical compositions at this time and will not figure into our exploration of Laments.⁹

1.4 Romantic lamentation

The pursuit of romance is one of the most common tropes used for composition in the musical world. Unfortunately, there are little first-hand accounts of how the everyday person dealt with the end of a romantic endeavour in the 17^th century. This lack of romantic evidence could be a by-product of the strategic role of courtship and marriage during this time. Romantic lamentation within dramatic and musical works was, however, very popular and featured greatly in the 17^th-century Laments surveyed.

1.41 Marriage as a social contract

While we in the western world may now think of marriage as the love-driven union of two individuals, the 17^th-century model was primarily designed as a contract that gave legal and spiritual responsibility to a man to control his subservient wife.¹⁰ Young women had little to no say in the selection of their future spouse, as it was her parents who would work to secure a match and provide a dowry. While sons (particularly eldest sons) may have had some say in their future bride, they were, by and large, at the mercy of their fathers, who were in control of their finances and monetary allowances until their deaths.¹¹ According to most pre- and post-Reformation protestant writers, there were three main purposes to marital union: “the procreation of children, the avoidance of sin, and mutual help and companionship”.¹² Marriage and motherhood were widely viewed as the ultimate goal for women, constituting both a spiritual act and a means to shelter and stability.¹³ For the upper classes, marriage was also a useful social tool, helping families obtain wealth, land, and status. While divorce was possible, it was obtainable only under certain circumstances such as adultery or desertion,¹⁴ and not due to a lack of romantic interest. Sexual relations within a marriage were primarily viewed as a means of conceiving children and not as an act of romantic love. As a part of a woman’s ultimate spiritual duty, copulation was framed as an act of devotion towards God and his disciples, and feelings of ‘Christian love’ sometimes arose as a by-product of this connection.¹⁵ Sexual relations outside of marital bed are evidenced by the existence of prostitutes, mistresses, and illegitimate children.

While romantic love and devotion may have been lacking in the rite of marriage, these concepts were not wholly unknown in the 17^th century as they feature prominently in a wide variety of literature and artwork. Romantic lamentation through these artistic mediums will be explored further in Chapter 2.

1.5 Musical Laments of western Europe

Presenting this thesis as an examination of musical Laments is perhaps too broad of a categorization. A slightly better designation would be ‘Laments in 17^th-century western music’ but this still is too general as we will not be including the funerary laments of places such as Ireland and Scotland. This study will focus on a selection of music written for and performed by musical professionals for dramatic and/or other performative purposes. For the sake of examining the context of expressions of grief and changes in stories, smaller Lament fragments from the operatic and oratorio repertoire have also been studied. In order to be included in this survey, the Laments must meet the following criteria:

1. The Lament must have been first published or performed in the 17^th century (according to available sources).

2. The Lament must have specific characters or personas expressing their own individual grief (which excludes most choral Laments from this analysis).

3. The Lament need not be classified as a ‘Lament’ by its creator. Likewise, pieces labeled as a ‘Lament’ by their creator may not be included in this classification if they do not fit the other parameters listed.

4. The Lament need not be of a specific length, and an excerpt from a larger work may be considered, provided it fits the other parameters.

5. While the Lament may be sacred and/or secular, it must not be intended for use within a liturgical service, nor as a part of a specific ritual (oratorio is accepted under these parameters but anthems, keens, masses, and hymns are not).

Under these guidelines, fourteen different Laments have been selected for use in this study. 

1.51 List of 17^th-century works used in this study

Listed in order of date of first publication or first-known performance:

- C. Monteverdi: Excerpt from Act II of L’Orfeo, 1607

- C. Monteverdi: Excerpt from Act V of L’Orfeo, 1607

- C. Monteverdi: “Lamento d’Arianna”, from L’Arianna, 1608

- F. Caccini: “Lasciatemi qui solo”, 1618

- G. Carissimi: “Ferma, lascia, ch’io parli” (Lamento in morte di Maria Stuarda), post-1620

- C. Monteverdi: “Lamento della Ninfa”, 1638

- F. Cavalli: “Misero Apollo”, from Gli amori di Apolle e Dafne, 1640

- G. Carissimi: Excerpt from Historia di Jepthe, c. 1648

- F. Cavalli: “Uscitemi dal cor lagrime amare,” from L’Erismena, 1655

- B. Strozzi: “L’Eraclito amoroso,” 1651

- B. Strozzi: “Lagrime mie,” 1659

- H. Purcell: “Dido’s Lament,” from Dido and Aeneas, 1689

- H. Purcell: “The Plaint”, c. 1692

- E.J. de la Guerre: Excerpt from Act V, Scene VII of Cephale et Procris, 1694

1. Being that death is an event every person, regardless of their gender, social status, or geographic location, will experience. In a survey conducted by WebMD in 2019 on “The Grief Experience,” the death of a family member or close friend, excluding a child or partner, was the leading cause of grief and was experienced by 32% of those polled within the past three years, outweighing every other category.

Debbie Koenig, “The Grief Experience: Survey Shows It’s Complicated,” WebMD, accessed July 1, 2022, https://www.webmd.com/special-reports/grief-stages/20190711/the-grief-experience-survey-shows-its-complicated.

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Chapter 2: Expressions of grief

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