The Sacred Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) constitutes the climax of the Catholic liturgical year. In the early medieval Roman tradition, the canonical hours of Matins and Lauds, which joined the chanting of psalms with scriptural and patristic readings as well as responsories, acquired a unique character during these three holy days and were read allegorically as the “funeral rites” of Christ. While the texts themselves showed stark elements, such as the omission of the customary Gloria Patri at the end of a psalm, dramatic features developed around their liturgical recitation, such as the gradual extinguishing of all candles to symbolize the three hours of darkness while Christ was hanging on the Cross. Especially when from the later Middle Ages, Matins and Lauds were anticipated on the previous evening, the celebration could end in complete darkness and hence acquired its popular name Tenebrae. Notwithstanding the austerity and the length of the rites, they had a remarkably wide impact on the consciousness of Catholics, as is reflected in James Joyce's Stephen Hero, or in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.

With the flourishing of polyphony in the early modern period, musical settings were commissioned all over Europe for various parts of Office of Tenebrae, above all the lessons from the Lamentations of Jeremiah that were part of the First Nocturn, the Responsories following the scriptural and patristic readings at Matins, the Benedictus canticle at Lauds, and the final Miserere (Psalm 50). Robert Kendrick presents the Tenebrae repertory from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-eighteenth century, which includes the works of well-known composers, such as Palestrina, Lassus, Victoria, and Charpentier. The study remains close to the sources and combines musical analysis with considerations of ritual performance and theological interpretation. This impressive work shows the enormous impact Tenebrae had on Catholic devotional life and musical culture from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Just how seriously it was taken is obvious from the reports about Jesuit missionaries making every effort to sing the Office (in polyphonic settings) even as they were sailing to their overseas destinations. Once they had established themselves in their African or Asian missions, they introduced the celebration of Tenebrae there (11–12).

The book would seem to be intended for a reader with advanced musical understanding. It includes many examples of musical notation and tables comparing the verse selection in Roman Lamentation settings, modality in selected Lamentation cycles, the contents of polyphonic Tenebrae compositions, and the variations in the lesson texts between different liturgical and musical sources. While this reviewer is not competent to assess the musicological aspects of the work, 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.