This “Parce mihi Domine” is the Lesson I, Lectio primo used in the Officium Defunctorum ad Matutinum and still used and published in the Office of the Dead at Matins, in the old Liber Usualis (edition 1936) page 1785. This Lesson I, in primo nocturne/in first Nocturn is set by Pedro de Tafalla which is normally used at the Office of the Dead ad Matins in the Spanish Liturgy.
This long motet “Parce mihi Domine” consisting out of 115 bars, is written in a chordal homophonic polychoral style, consisting out of Coro I SSAT (Tiple 1 and 2, Contralto, Tenor) and Coro II SATB (Tiple, Contralto, Tenor, Bajo) with contrabajo and organ as a basso continuo (bajo continuo). The two choirs alternate with each other and sometimes merge together. The incipit ‘Parce mihi’ is set with consecutive half notes. The two choirs merge together in a sonorous “qui magnificas eum” (in Ms. 17-21) followed with a more lively part (in Ms.22-35) with quavers and dotted notes underlining and following the rhythm of the words ‘visitas’,’subito’ and ‘probas’. A real Venetian polychoral style (Coro spezzati technique) starts as from ‘et factus sum’ up to ‘ecce nunc’ (Ms.73-94). This motet Parce mihi Domine is set in G-major and is published in 1788 by Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial and published too between 1724 and 1794 by Francisco de Paula Rodriquez (1724-1762) and Pablo Ramoneda (1743-1792) and further in 1803 by Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, probablemente fue copiado por el fraile Jeronimo Jaime Ferrer (1762-1824) and found in the biblioteca.
Text:
Lectio I
Parce mihi Domine nihil enim sunt dies mei.
Quid est homo quia magnificas eum?
aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum?
Visitas eum diluculo, et subito probas illum.
Usquequo non parcis mihi nec dimittis me,
ut glutiam salivam meam?
Peccavi, quid faciam tibi o custos hominum?
Quare posuisti me contrarium tibi,
et factus sum mihimetipsi gravis?
Cur non tollis peccatum meum,
et quare non aufers iniquitatem meam?
Ecce nunc in pulvere dormiam:
et si mane me quaesieris, non subsistam.
(Job 7, 16-21)
Translation:
First Lesson
Spare me O Lord for my days are nothing.
What is man, that thou magnifies him:
or why settest thou thy heart toward him?
Thou dost visit him early in the morning,
and suddenly thou provest him.
How long dost thou not spare me, nor suffer me,
that I swallow my spittle?
I have sinned. What shall I do to thee, O keeper of men?
Why hast thou set me contrary to thee,
and I am become burdensome to myself?
Why dost thou not take away my sin,
and why dost thou not take away mine iniquity?
Behold now I shall sleep in the dust,
and if thou seek me in the morning, I shall not be.
(Job7, 16-21)