As we enter Passiontide, the Choir of Westminster Cathedral and Ad Fontes record label have produced a new video of William Byrd’s masterpiece, Infelix ego; a meditation on Psalm 50 (51), the Miserere.
Ad Fontes:
William Byrd’s Infelix ego is widely regarded as the pinnacle of his sacred music and one of the most powerful artistic achievements of the sixteenth century.
The work sets a text by the Dominican friar, Girolamo Savonarola, a meditation on Psalm 50 (51) written while Savonarola awaited execution in Florence after leading a religious movement against the Medici family. The text expresses a tormented soul wrestling with guilt, fear, and despair, yet ultimately finding hope through Christ’s mercy. The piece mirrors Savonarola’s spiritual struggle through expressive melodic lines, shifting textures, and moments of tension and release.
Byrd may also have felt a personal connection to Savonarola’s situation; as a Catholic composer living in Protestant England during a time of religious persecution, Byrd understood the experience of being isolated from one’s faith community. This shared sense of conflict and devotion seems to inform the music’s profound emotional intensity, culminating in a powerful conclusion that suggests the long-awaited acceptance of divine mercy.
Infelix ego, omnium auxilio destitutus, qui cælum terramque offendi. Quo ibo? Quo me vertam? Ad quem confugiam? Quis mei miserebitur? Ad cælum levare oculos non audeo, quia ei graviter peccavi; in terra refugium non invenio, quia ei scandalum fui. Quid igitur faciam? Desperabo? Absit. Misericors est Deus, pius est salvator meus. Solus igitur Deum refugium meum; ipse non despiciet opus suum, non repellet imaginem suam. Ad te igitur, piissime Deus, tristis ac moerens venio, quoniam tu solus spes mea, tu solus refugium meum. Quid autem dicam tibi, cum oculos levare non audeo? Verba doloris effundam, misericordiam tuam implorabo, et dicam: miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.
Unhappy am I, bereft of all help, who have offended against heaven and earth. Whither shall I go? Where shall I turn? To whom shall I fly? Who will take pity on me? To heaven I dare not lift my eyes, for against her I have sinned grievously. On earth I find no refuge, for to her I have become an outrage. What therefore shall I do? Shall I despair? Let it not be. God is merciful, my saviour is loving. Therefore God alone will be my refuge. He will not despise his own work nor reject his own image. To thee therefore, most loving God, sad and sorrowful I come. For thou alone art my hope, thou alone art my refuge. What however should I say to thee since I dare not lift my eyes? I shall pour out words of sorrow, I shall beg thy mercy, and I shall say: ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy great compassion.’