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)
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More than a liturgical or historical document, Lagrime di San Pietro stands as one of the most introspective works of the late Renaissance—a meditation on human fragility, rendered through a refined and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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