Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia

Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia is a musical work by Italian composer Carlo Gesualdo, published in 1611. The work consists of three sets of nine short pieces, one set for each of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and a psalm and a hymn. The work was written for unaccompanied voices: two soprano parts, alto, two tenor parts, and bass. The work could be performed by six individuals, but is more usually sung with a few voices per part. Total performance time is about an hour.

The text of the work is settings from the Passion, the narrative of Jesus's trial, torture, execution and burial, as reflected in the Responsories for Holy Week. The pieces are stylistically madrigali spirituali - madrigals on sacred texts. As in Gesualdo's later books of madrigals, he uses particularly sharp dissonance and shocking chromatic juxtapositions, especially in the parts highlighting text passages having to do with Christ's suffering, or the guilt of St. Peter in having betrayed Jesus.

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