Charpentier’s beautiful settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah were performed over the three days of Holy Week: Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but for practical reasons were performed on the preceding evening of the relevant Holy day; the Lamentations for Good Friday were therefore performed on Maundy Thursday. The text, originally deploring the Siege of Jerusalem, applied allegorically to the three days of mourning for Christ between his crucifixion and resurrection.

A feature of the lamentations is the melismatic setting of Hebrew letters at the beginning of each Latin verse. These are highly virtuosic vocal settings which were sung by professional singers from the Paris Opera. This was a ritual spectacle involving set pieces of liturgy interspersed with musical “Repons” and the gradual extinguishing of fourteen candles. The fifteenth candle was finally hidden from sight, a loud ‘bang’ was heard symbolising the earthquake following Christ’s death and plunging the entire church into darkness. The candle was finally restored to view symbolising the resurrection.