Work: Lagrime di San Pietro – Orlando di Lasso
Choir: WDR Rundfunkchor
Conductor: Philipp Ahmann
Date: 21 March 2026
Time: 18:00 (Cologne) / 17:00 (GMT)
Location: Trinitatiskirche, Cologne
Streaming: YouTube (ARD Klassik)
Link: ARD Klassik YouTube channel
Few works of the Renaissance combine expressive depth and structural symbolism as strikingly as Lagrime di San Pietro, the late masterpiece by Orlando di Lasso. Conceived as a cycle of spiritual madrigals, the work reflects on Saint Peter’s remorse after denying Christ, unfolding across a carefully constructed architecture shaped by numerical symbolism.
Lasso organizes the cycle into three groups of seven pieces, written for a seven-voice ensemble—an intricate design that reinforces the meditative character of the music. The texts, drawn from a much longer poetic sequence by the Italian writer Luigi Tansillo, distill the biblical episode into a sequence of intimate reflections on guilt, grief, and redemption.
Performed here by the WDR Rundfunkchor under Philipp Ahmann, this livestream offers a rare opportunity to experience the work in its entirety. Known for its precision and clarity, the Cologne-based ensemble brings a focused, transparent sound well suited to Lasso’s contrapuntal writing, allowing the expressive detail of each line to emerge.
More than a liturgical or historical document, Lagrime di San Pietro stands as one of the most introspective works of the late Renaissance—a meditation on human fragility, rendered through a refined and deeply personal musical language.
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