Singing Jeremiah

This a stunning piece of scholarship centered around a specific ritual in Western society and Christianity, and the music associated with it. Highly recommended.

* Choice *

[A] ground-breaking and invigorating study. . . [this] study will undoubtedly keep the knowledge of these Offices alive in the minds of musicologists, and of more general readers, for a long time to come.

* Early Music *

This groundbreaking study brings together fascinating facts and materials, varied discussions, and a layered organization of its material in condensed, scholarly, and sophisticated language. It requires some basic knowledge of its subject on the part of its readers. The book will be a valuable addition to any academic and large public library, and constitutes a significant source for academics, scholars, theologians, and musicians interested in details of the Triduum, its ritual, and its music.

* Music Reference Services Quarterly *

Handsomely produced, and accompanied by useful appendixes detailing the contents, verse selections, and modal organizations of selected Holy Week cycles, Singing Jeremiah mines an obscure yet inexhaustibly rich vein of music that expressed profound sentiments of devotion and penance.

* Renaissance Quarterly *

Robert Kendrick has provided the interested reader with a huge amount of information, with great cultural-historical, and not least music-historical perspectives. It is an important book, which takes seriously the idea that liturgical music was also—and remains—theological, cultural, and ritual practice.

* Music and Letters *

Kendrick's command of the complex layers of meaning attached to the ritual and musical performance of Tenebrae cannot fail to impress. Singing Jeremiah is a significant contribution to understanding the richness of early modern Catholicism.

* Church History *

Kendrick's book is essential reading for anyone engaging with the sacred/secular dichotomy in early modern music and the socio-liturgical context of music.

* Notes *

Written in careful musical detail and with an admirable comprehension of the environment in which the music developed, Kenrick's book will be a reliable source for both musicians and liturgical scholars for many years to come.

* Antiph