Victoria’s nine Lamentation settings are taken from his monumental Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae (Office for Holy Week), a comprehensive collection of passion settings, responsaries and hymns for this most important period of the Church year. These anguished texts, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem in the time of the conquest of Nebuchadrezzar, are set with Victoria’s particular subtlety and intensity of expression. The title of the concert is taken from the epilogue of each lamentation, exhorting the people of Jerusalem to turn once again to their God.
