The Tears

Le lagrime di San Pietro – Roland de Lassus (1532-1594) and Le lagrime del peccatore – Lodovico Agostini (1534-1590)

The last great works of the Renaissance and the beginnings of Baroque

This programme presents two major works, Le lagrime di San Pietro and Le lagrime del peccatore, both of which deal with a subject rarely encountered in musical settings: Saint Peter’s denial of Jesus, a meditation for the season of Lent. Furthermore, they are both swan songs, the last works of Roland de Lassus and Ludovico Agostini, respectively.
In Munich in 1594, shortly before his death, Roland de Lassus, looked to the past: taking Renaissance counterpoint and rhetoric to their apogee, he produced a masterpiece. In Ferrara in 1586, Lodovico Agostini, no doubt influenced by Gesualdo, looked to the future: bringing into play all the already Baroque devices of chromaticism and dissonance, he sought above all to move the listener.
Presenting these two works side by side shows up the contrast between them, while illustrating that pivotal period when the last great works of the Renaissance coexisted with the beginnings of Baroque. Le lagrime di San Pietro by the illustrious Roland de Lassus shows restraint and interiority, while Le lagrime del peccatore, an unpublished collection by Lodovico Agostini, is remarkable in its effusion and expressiveness.