Gallia (Gounod)

Gallia is an 1871 motet for soprano, chorus, orchestra, and organ by Charles Gounod. The text is a setting of Lamentations with alternative French text by Gounod.[1]

It was written for the 1871 International Exhibition in London.[2]

Composed by Gounod while in exile in London (due to the Franco-Prussian War), the cantata is dedicated to France—*Gallia* being the Latin word for France. In it, Gounod draws a profound parallel between the destroyed Jerusalem of the Lamentations of Jeremiah and a battered France.

In February 1944, Canon Joseph Besnier—choirmaster at Nantes Cathedral—was forbidden by the Nazi occupiers from performing this oratorio, which he had included in his schedule of sacred concerts [3] .

Recordings

  • Gallia (Lamentation). Cecile Perrin (soprano), Chorus and Orchestra of Paris-Sorbonne, Jacques Grimbert, conductor. Marco Polo DDD8.223892 (1995)

References

  1. ↑ Thomas Tallis and His Music in Victorian England -Suzanne Cole - 2008 Page 91 1843833808 In Gounod we have a feminine abandonment to the luxury of weeping; Tallis has tears in plenty, but they are the tears of a strong man who will not let them fall.79 In ... Gounod's Gallia sets essentially the same text as Tallis's Lamentations.
  2. ↑ Charles Gounod (1871). "Gallia". Novello, Ewer & Co. p. 1.
  3. ↑ "Joseph Besnier". www.musimem.com. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
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