Caligaverunt oculi mei

Use: Lent, Holy Week
Required Resources: SATB choir
Language: Latin

This motet is part of our Treasury of Sacred Music Series, a collection of choral gems about which Vatican Council II was speaking in Sacrosanctam concilium: "The treasury of sacred music is to be preserved and cultivated with great care."

Tomàs Luis da Victoria was a Spanish composer-priest of the sixteenth century. His meticulous choral writing embodied the spirit and myticism of the great Spanish saints, Teresa of Avila and John the Cross. He spent over twenty years in Rome, learning the sublime Renaissance style from his teacher Palestrina. Invigorated by the climate of the Catholic Counter-reformation, he composed only sacred music, before returning to Madrid to spend his last years in the simple lifestyle of a discalced Carmelite.

Caligaverunt oculi mei is the text for the Responsory after the last Lesson of Good Friday Matins. It was part of the traditional Tenebræ service sung on the evening before Good Friday, and expresses profound tenderness of emotion at the words of the innocent Lamb: "Behold, see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow."

Prof. Angelini, of Rimini, Italy, has edited Victoria's manuscript to enhance the emotional yet restrained nature of the music, and has added suggestions for tempi and dynamics.