Aestimatus sum

Tomás Luis de Victoria, a towering figure of the Spanish Golden Age, composed this powerful motet as part of his Tenebrae responsories. Written for a substantial eight-part choir (SSAT, TTBB), the work draws its text from the liturgical readings for Maundy Thursday. The Latin lyrics depict a soul abandoned and cast into the lowest depths, "like a man utterly without help, among the dead set free." Victoria masterfully captures the profound despair and isolation of the text, creating a dramatic and emotionally resonant musical setting that would have been a profound element of the Tenebrae services in the late 16th century.