As we journey through Holy Week, the blog is taking a slightly different format with short reflections on Marcel Dupré’s Le chemin de la croix, a musical version of the Stations of the Cross. Instead of one reflection released on Wednesday, these episodes are to appear through the week from Palm Sunday until Good Friday.

Jésus est condamné à mort

From its first opening descending minor third the first station expresses the sadness and confusion of condemnation. That one interval seems to be the germinating idea from which much of the movement is drawn, set alongside strident dotted rhythm on reed stops which remind us of the fact that the secular power under which Jesus was condemned was an externally opposed military. At times dizzying with movement – demonstrating the composer’s virtuosity as an organist – the injustice of a sentence passed on one we know to be innocent of the crime is reflected; our naturally uncomprehending reaction to the sheer unfairness of the world is made audible in the pulsating chaos of Dupré’s music.

Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi: quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum