Leçons de ténèbres (Couperin)
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The Leçons de ténèbres pour le mercredi Saint ("Lessons of darkness for Holy Wednesday " or Tenebrae for Holy Wednesday) were written by François Couperin for the liturgies of the Holy Week of 1714 at the abbey of Longchamps. They use the text of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, in the Old Testament, in which the prophet deplores the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonians. In the Catholic tradition, they symbolize the loneliness of Christ, betrayed by Judas and abandoned by his apostles.
Other French composers wrote "lessons of darkness", the best known being those by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Jean Gilles and Michel Delalande. Outside France, one can find similar works by Carlo Gesualdo, Thomas Tallis, and Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Those by Couperin are for two high vocalists, and basso continuo. They are composed of three lessons (six others having been lost).
