Aspice Domine

Philip van Wilder was a Franco-Flemish composer active in England during the 16th century. This setting of Aspice Domine is a substantial motet for SATTB voices, written in Latin. The text is a plea to God in a time of desolation. The opening words describe a once-rich city now sitting in sorrow, a 'lady of nations', who finds no comfort except in God. The additional section, adapted here as a variant, speaks of weeping through the night, with tears on her cheeks, again finding solace only in God. The composer's rich polyphonic writing here sets the penitential text with deep pathos.