Ensemble Doulce Mémoire - Agostini - Lasso

Orlando di Lasso. Lagrime di San Pietro. Lodovico Agostini. Le lagrime del Peccatore. In memory of Denis Raisin Dadre.

A 'mythic' work in the remarkably rich repertoire of Renaissance polyphony, the Tears of Saint Peter constitute the ultimate monument of Roland de Lassus completed in 1594, the very year of his death.

At twilight of his life, the great master delivers a sublime lamentation that unites contrapuntal mastery with the direct expressivity that is his hallmark.

Indeed, the episode in the Gospels of Saint Peter's Denial, turning his back on Christ, offers poetic possibilities of incomparable force. Another composer, Lodovico Agostini, leaves, some years earlier, a score equally moving, The Tears of the Sinner.

Poignant coincidence: like Lassus, Agostini finishes his masterpiece the year of his death (1586). This program is the last conducted to completion by Denis Raisin Dadre at the helm of Doulce Mémoire, before he left us in September 2025.

One could not imagine a more moving tribute from an ensemble to its conductor and founder.