"Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross read in 16th century Spanish & in my English

For this reading I chose to use a type of pronunciation reflected by the testimony of San Juan's contemporary López de Velasco, for whom all the sibilants were fricatives but a voicing distinction nevertheless existed. I am not at all sure that this is how San Juan himself spoke. Some rhymes and soundplay in his work suggest to me that he had perhaps lost the voicing contrast for intervocalic sibilants. He may also have maintained an affricate for ç.

The English translation here is my own and has been set to music by Christopher Marshall. Here it is being performed by the Rutgers Kirkpatrick Choir:

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