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.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.
It was written for the 1871 International Exhibition in London.
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 .
Recordings Gallia (Lamentation). Cecile Perrin (soprano), Chorus and Orchestra of Paris-Sorbonne, Jacques Grimbert, conductor. Marco Polo DDD8.223892 (1995)
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