Lagrime di San Pietro
Encyclopedia
The Lagrime di San Pietro is a cycle of 20 madrigal
s and a concluding motet
by the late Renaissance
composer Orlande de Lassus
. It is structured as 3 sequences of 7 compositions in each sequence, and is for seven voices. The Lagrime di San Pietro was his last composition, written in 1594, and published posthumously in Munich
in 1595. He dedicated it to Pope Clement VIII
on May 24, 1594, just three weeks before his death.
poet Luigi Tansillo
(1510–1568) depicting the stages of grief experienced by St. Peter after his denial of Christ
, and his memory of Christ's admonition . The settings by Lassus are for seven voices, and numerical symbolism plays a part throughout: the seven voices represent the seven sorrows of the Virgin Mary; in addition many of the madrigals are in seven sections. The total number of pieces in the set, 21, represents seven times the number of members of the trinity.
In addition, Lassus only sets seven of the eight church modes (modes I through VII), leaving mode VIII entirely out. The madrigals are grouped by successive mode, with madrigals 1 through 4 in mode I, 5 to 8 in mode II, 9 to 12 in modes III and IV, 13 to 15 in mode V, 16 to 18 in mode VI, 19 and 20 in mode VII, and the closing motet based on the tonus perigrinus, entirely outside the Renaissance scheme of the eight church modes. According to David Crook, writing in his 1994 book on the Lassus Magnificat settings:
Musically, the Lagrime are a summation of Lassus's style throughout his career, and he himself indicated in his dedication that they were recently composed. Within the cycle he uses techniques he learned early in his career as a composer of secular madrigals; chromaticism
related to his much earlier musica reservata
masterpiece Prophetiae Sibyllarum; and the concise, refined, almost austere language he developed late in his career, related to the Palestrina
style, in which no note is superfluous. The music sets the text syllabically, with careful regard for diction, and contains pauses where a speaker would naturally stop for breath; and it is entirely through-composed
, without repetition or redundancy.
The final piece in the set is not a madrigal, but rather a Latin
motet
: Vide homo, quae pro te patior (Behold, man, how I suffer for you). Here the crucified Christ, speaking in the first person, confronts Peter's betrayal and indeed the sinfulness of all mankind.
, and appeared at the end of an age: within 10 years of its composition, the traditional stile antico
had been displaced in many centers by new early Baroque forms such as monody
and the sacred concerto for few voices and basso continuo. Of the work, musicologist Alfred Einstein wrote in his 1949 opus The Italian Madrigal: "it is ... a spiritual counterpart to the cycles from the great epics of Ariosto and Tasso
, an old man's work, comparable in its artistry, its dimensions, its asceticism only to the Musical Offering and the Art of Fugue."
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
s and a concluding motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
by the late Renaissance
Renaissance music
Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...
composer Orlande de Lassus
Orlande de Lassus
Orlande de Lassus was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance...
. It is structured as 3 sequences of 7 compositions in each sequence, and is for seven voices. The Lagrime di San Pietro was his last composition, written in 1594, and published posthumously in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
in 1595. He dedicated it to Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII , born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was Pope from 30 January 1592 to 3 March 1605.-Cardinal:...
on May 24, 1594, just three weeks before his death.
Content
The Lagrime sets 20 poems by the ItalianItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
poet Luigi Tansillo
Luigi Tansillo
Luigi Tansillo was an Italian poet of the Petrarchian and Marinist schools. Born in Venosa, he entered the service of Pedro Álvarez de Toledo in 1536 and in 1540 entered the Accademia degli Umidi , afterwards called della Fiorentina.He was associated with the Court of Naples and served as Captain...
(1510–1568) depicting the stages of grief experienced by St. Peter after his denial of Christ
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, and his memory of Christ's admonition . The settings by Lassus are for seven voices, and numerical symbolism plays a part throughout: the seven voices represent the seven sorrows of the Virgin Mary; in addition many of the madrigals are in seven sections. The total number of pieces in the set, 21, represents seven times the number of members of the trinity.
In addition, Lassus only sets seven of the eight church modes (modes I through VII), leaving mode VIII entirely out. The madrigals are grouped by successive mode, with madrigals 1 through 4 in mode I, 5 to 8 in mode II, 9 to 12 in modes III and IV, 13 to 15 in mode V, 16 to 18 in mode VI, 19 and 20 in mode VII, and the closing motet based on the tonus perigrinus, entirely outside the Renaissance scheme of the eight church modes. According to David Crook, writing in his 1994 book on the Lassus Magnificat settings:
- Mode eight's conspicuous absence and thereby the incomplete representation of the eight-member system in the first twenty madrigals mirror the words of Saint Peter and symbolize all that is imperfect in the world just as surely as the adoption of another tone outside the system for the words of Christ in the Latin envoi serves as a symbol for the other world to come.
Musically, the Lagrime are a summation of Lassus's style throughout his career, and he himself indicated in his dedication that they were recently composed. Within the cycle he uses techniques he learned early in his career as a composer of secular madrigals; chromaticism
Chromaticism
Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. Chromaticism is in contrast or addition to tonality or diatonicism...
related to his much earlier musica reservata
Musica reservata
In music history, musica reservata is either a style or a performance practice in a cappella vocal music of the latter half of the 16th century, mainly in Italy and southern Germany, involving refinement, exclusivity, and intense emotional expression of sung text.The exact meaning, which appears...
masterpiece Prophetiae Sibyllarum; and the concise, refined, almost austere language he developed late in his career, related to the Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition...
style, in which no note is superfluous. The music sets the text syllabically, with careful regard for diction, and contains pauses where a speaker would naturally stop for breath; and it is entirely through-composed
Through-composed
Through-composed music is relatively continuous, non-sectional, and/or non-repetitive. A song is said to be through-composed if it has different music for each stanza of the lyrics. This is in contrast to strophic form, in which each stanza is set to the same music...
, without repetition or redundancy.
The final piece in the set is not a madrigal, but rather a Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
: Vide homo, quae pro te patior (Behold, man, how I suffer for you). Here the crucified Christ, speaking in the first person, confronts Peter's betrayal and indeed the sinfulness of all mankind.
Canonical status
The Lagrime di San Pietro is probably the most famous set of madrigali spirituali ever written. Although sacred madrigals were a small subset of the total output of madrigals, this set by Lassus is often considered by scholars to be one of the highest achievements of Renaissance polyphonyPolyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
, and appeared at the end of an age: within 10 years of its composition, the traditional stile antico
Stile antico
Stile antico, literally "ancient style", is a term describing music from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries. It refers to a manner of composition which is historically conscious, as opposed to stile moderno...
had been displaced in many centers by new early Baroque forms such as monody
Monody
In poetry, the term monody has become specialized to refer to a poem in which one person laments another's death....
and the sacred concerto for few voices and basso continuo. Of the work, musicologist Alfred Einstein wrote in his 1949 opus The Italian Madrigal: "it is ... a spiritual counterpart to the cycles from the great epics of Ariosto and Tasso
Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata , in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem...
, an old man's work, comparable in its artistry, its dimensions, its asceticism only to the Musical Offering and the Art of Fugue."