Molinaro’s setting of the Fourth Responsory for Maundy Thursday was published in the Responsoria Hebdomadae Sanctae, psalmi, benedictus, et miserere by Rogerio Argilliano in 1612. The work is based on the betrayal of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane: “My friend betrayed me with the sign of a kiss” (“Amicus meus osculi me tradidit signo”), and concludes with a dramatic choral declamation on the words “The wretched man returned the blood money, and hanged himself at the end of a noose” (Infelix praetermisit, pretium sanguinis et in fine laqueo se suspendit). The modern-day world premiere of this work and edition was performed in San Francisco in November 2010 by the Chalice Consort.
Edited by Peter S. Poulos.
Peter S. Poulos, PhD 