‘Per mia particolare devotione’: Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro and Catholic Spirituality in Counter-Reformation Munich

In his magisterial Lagrime di San Pietro (1595) Orlando di Lasso composed a cycle of 20 madrigals on texts by Luigi Tansillo on the theme of St Peter’s denial of Christ and his subsequent remorse, capped by a Latin motet (‘Vide homo’) representing the rebuke of the crucified Christ. The Lagrime may be seen as a penitential gesture on Lasso’s part, but a textual and musical analysis also suggests numerous parallels with contemporary Catholic spiritual exercises, particularly those of Ignatius of Loyola and Luis ofGranada. The cycle thus takes its place in a broader Counter-Reformation discourse of meditation and penance.