Like Peccantem me quotidie, Ne reminiscaris, Domine is a penitential motet for four voices. Although unlike the former it begins imitatively, once again the use of block chordal writing is at the centre of Manchicourt’s expressive technique. After the imitative ‘neque vindictam sumas de peccatis nostris’ (‘and do not wreak vengeance for our transgressions’), all voices reach a cadence on a unison, before all returning with the highlighted phrase ‘Parce, Domine’ (‘Spare, Lord’). Later in the same phrase the reason why God should spare sinners—‘quem redemisti pretioso sanguine tuo’ (‘whom you redeemed with your most precious blood’)—is similarly emphasized with homophony.
from notes by Stephen Rice © 2007
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