In the past, religious functions during Holy Week were held with great pomp and solemnity, to the extent that the ritual was transformed into a sacred pageant. Music played an important role in the whole theatrical re-enactment of the Passion of Christ.

The earliest surviving music used in the rites for this week mostly dates back to the High Middle Ages, but in a number of compositions dating to this latter period, the influence of earlier music can be felt.

Since time immemorial, composers were commissioned to write music for the different functions held during this week, which used to end with the responsories on Saturday morning.

In the old Ambrosian Chant, plain songs for this week survive, which are reminiscent of the early Christian period. Great composers such as Carlo Gesualdo and Alessandro Scarlatti and his nephew Domenico Scarlatti, known as the “Bach of Italy”, wrote music for the church including the Lamentations and Tenebrae Responsories that used to be sung on Holy Saturday.

Due to Malta’s geographical position close to the cradle of the Roman Catholic religion, it was inevitable that the island would be influenced by religious development in Italy and in particular, Sicily. The Cathedral Church in Malta was the first to introduce new musical styles in particular during late medieval times.

However, with the arrival of the Knights of St John in 1530 and the development of the harbour cities, the emerging parishes in this area began to develop their own musical repertoire of sacred music with compositions that sometimes were of the same calibre of the music played at Mdina.

The Birgu parish church, for example, still treasures in its archives the first printed edition (which incidentally is a very rare copy) of the music score of the Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina who, on the order of Pope Gregory XIII, composed the famous Lamentations for the Cappella Sistina, which were sung on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

Maltese composers began to make a name for themselves in sacred music from the middle baroque period onwards.. Most of these compositions are in themselves rare musical manuscripts but unfortunately, some are anonymous. The parish church of Cospicua or Bormla, as this place is popularly known, has musical scores dating back to the 17th and 18th century, making the parish archives one of the richest in Malta for early Maltese music. Moreover, these archives are particularly rich in music for Holy Week.

One can therefore safely conclude that the old scores found in these archives were played in this church during important religious functions in the 17th and 18th century. Perhaps, one could also assume that they were specifically composed for Cospicua to enhance these solemn celebrations, in particular the ones for the suggestive ritual of Holy Week. These celebrations opened with the rites of Palm Sunday service and all end with the music for the liturgical service of Good Friday. Missing are the scores for Holy Saturday. This could be due to the fact that by the 17th century, these responsories lost their pride of place following the liturgical reforms initiated in the previous century by the Council of Trent.

Music played during Holy Week had to be composed in a rhythm of lament, which was achieved by using a moderate or slow music tempo. It was a tempo that had to differ sharply from that used in church during the other days of the year. In fact, from late medieval times, the modal for Holy Week pivoted mostly on the G and D notes, which created this particular melodramatic genre. However, the difference was not only felt through the use of various melodic scales but also through the use of string and wind instruments. The preference to use only string and a few wind instruments during this particular week became the hallmark of this religious season. One has to remember that in the 18th century, many churches, including the parish church of Cospicua, acquired a new musical instrument, the pipe organ, to accompany religious services.

The reactions of the Church authorities regarding the use of the organ during Holy Week were not long in coming. By the second half of the 18th century, the use of this instrument was not only discouraged but downright forbidden, particularly during the liturgy of Good Friday. The organ was banned because the sound emitted from its lead and wooden pipes was considered vociferously loud. Through a number of ordinances, the Church sent a symbolic message; the organ was to become a metaphor of Easter. In truly baroque spirit, a sort of theatrical shock was being propagated, because after days of mournful music, the faithful heard the loud and merry sound of the organ announcing the resurrection of Christ.

Those churches that could afford to and had the means to replace the organ with another less powerful keyboard instrument, as was the case with the Cathedral Church of Mdina, bought a piano. From research carried out by Mgr John Azzopardi, we learn that in the late 18th century, the Cathedral purchased at least two pianos from England. The first piano was bought in 1788 for the price of 240 scudi. However, in 1791, the Cathedral sold a piano, which could have been either the one bought three years before or an older piano, in order to buy a new one for price of 350 scudi.

At the Wignacourt Museum in Rabat, there is a small Broadwood piano (the size of a modern baby grand but with a smaller keyboard) manufactured in 1804. This piano was probably the one used in Holy Week in the adjacent chapel overlying the Grotto of St Paul. A look at this particular piano, as well as at any other piano manufactured during this period, can make one easily understand why they were used for these particular services. They were rather weak instruments. The piano chords, for example, were knotted to iron nails, which in turn were pinned onto a wooden rail fastened to the piano’s main frame. This meant that the chords were being simply tightened according to the pressure exerted by a human hand. Thus, the tension exerted on the chord, after the hammer pressing one of the keys hit it, was rather low. The resulting sound is very weak when compared with present day pianos.

On the other hand, those parishes that did not possess a piano had to either simply rely on string and/or a few wind instruments, or else use another keyboard instrument, that gave out a less glorious sound. It was traditional in some of the rural parishes to replace their pipe organ with the quieter voice of a harmonium. This custom was still observed in non-affluent parishes until the turn of the last century. The harmonium was also introduced in Cospicua and until the Good Friday liturgical reforms introduced by Pius XII, this instrument was used throughout Holy Week in lieu of the pipe organ.

In the 18th and 19th century, faced with the difficulties that certain parishes encountered to substitute their organ with other instruments, the Church issued a directive in which a sort of modus vivendi was adopted. Those churches that could not replace their organ could still use it during Holy Week but it had to be played ad sustinendum cantus, meaning that it could only be played to lead the choir. One must bear in mind that the organ was very expensive to buy but very cheap to run, as it only involved the cost of one organist. Its numerous music registers made it an inclusive instrument, which could be played on its own without using other instruments.

The parish of Cospicua was one of those parishes that could afford not to play the organ during Holy Week, substituting it with the

use of string instruments, in particular the violin, the cello and the counter bass, as well as using a few wind instruments, in particular the flute, the bassoon and oboe.

The most ancient composition for Holy Week at Cospicua appears to date back to the late 17th century. Unfortunately, the score carries no date nor is its author known. Furthermore, it seems that what has survived is a copy of these scores made in the 18th century. One cannot exclude the possibility that this score could have been written at a later period. However, the style and modal points to the late 17th century.

By the beginning of the 19th century, such music was already out of fashion and in Cospicua, new compositions for Holy Week were being composed by the various maestri di cappella of this parish, in particular by Don Salvatore Magrin, who together with Don Giuseppe Burlo, dominated the music scene in Cospicua in the first half of the 19th century.

These late 17th century scores contain the music for Palm Sunday, Wednesday in Holy Week, Maundy Thursday and the psalms and liturgy for Good Friday. What is significant in this unsigned music is that stylistically, it dates to Bach’s time, or even before. It is for this reason that it is associated with the late 17th century or early 18th century. If the score is not a copy but an original, then the composer wrote the music for the Holy Week ritual on the lines of the Italian composers Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, or of German composers before or during Bach's time. The style of this particular music predates Mozart. Mozart’s influence on church music is not present in this score. In fact, after a thorough analysis of the score, no traces were found of the new genre of musical tones introduced by Mozart.

Another interesting point about this music is the fact that the Palm Sunday ritual contains the narration of the Passion of Christ according to the Gospel of St Matthew. This reading of the Passion of Christ according to Matthew has most probably become one of the most famous Passions, thanks to Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). It was already a Church tradition to have the reading of the Passion of Christ or Passio in Latin, sung by three or four voices. Bach composed the music for the Passion story.

It was an old tradition of the Church to have the Passio chanted on two separate occasions. First it was read during High Mass on Palm Sunday and again retold in the liturgical ceremony of Good Friday. Until the last liturgical reform, the Passion according to St Matthew was the Gospel reading on Palm Sunday. There is no doubt that solemn processions were held at Cospicua during this period, and they were most probably accompanied by music played on wind instruments. Old musical scores in the church archives, in particular compositions for flute, were intended to be played during public manifestations of faith. The flutes and drums were instruments par excellence used in the baroque and classical age to accompany religious processions and other public manifestations.

As is the case with Bach’s Passion, this anonymous composer structured his script on a soprano, alto, tenor and bass. The composition was in fact written for ‘a cappella’ performance, that is, the singers were accompanied by a small orchestra. This is supported by the fact that some orchestration parts, composed by this anonymous composer, have survived for other parts of the ceremony played during the Holy Week. However, the orchestration parts for the Passio are missing.

On Tuesday 11 April, at 7.30pm, part of this music will be played again at Cospicua’s Parish Church. Rita Scicluna, an M.Phil student with the Mediterranean Institute at the University of Malta has been editing the score for the past months, transcribing the musical notes into modern music keys and recreating the missing parts to enable one to perform it again. The editing of these works is being done under the supervision of Dr Dion Buhagiar.

The advice of Professor Hans Jurgen Nagel was also sought regarding the interpretation needed to have various homophonic pieces of these scores played to please a modern audience. In fact, it is thanks to their efforts that these old scores can be played. The music includes parts for the introit and all the psalms that used to be sung outside the Church precincts, at the door of the church and inside the church. The concert will include the singing of the Passio of Christ according to Matthew.

The score for Palm Sunday includes the participation of two sopranos. In the past, castrati sang these parts. Their scores are in homophonic style. A tenor and a bass support the sopranos thus giving the composition a polyphonic vein. Since part of this ritual was sung during processions, musical instruments were not included. However, as its modern execution precludes a seated audience, Professor Nagel advised the introduction of string movements. Ms Scicluna created these parts. At the same time, care was taken that the instruments introduced in these new parts complemented the instruments used in this composition, particularly in the playing of the Mass arias. Many parts of the Offertory scores, however, are missing with the result that they too are being recomposed by Ms Scicluna.

During this concert, music for the flute that used to be played in processions such as the ones held on Palm Sunday will also be played. The music scores for flute were edited by students reading for a BA Hons degree in music at the University of Malta under the supervision of Maestro John Galea. Entrance to this concert is free.