Giacomo Carissimi is an Italian Jesuit composer who wrote cantatas, madrigals, and oratorios. The movement 'Plorate, Filii Israel' comes from which Carissimi oratorio?

• A. Historia di Santa Cecilia
• B. Jephte
• C. La Resurrezione
• D. Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria

Answer: (B)

In Carissimi’s sacred drama, a movement that cries out with collective grief over a catastrophe is used to heighten the emotional impact of the narrative. Plorate, Filii Israel is the lament of the daughters of Israel in the oratorio Jephte, expressing communal mourning as the plot centers on Jephthah’s vow and its tragic consequence. This moment is emblematic of early Baroque oratorio, where chorus, soloes, and continuo work together to convey a dramatic biblical story through expressive vocal writing. The oratorio Jephte is the work that contains this specific lament, making it the correct source. Other Carissimi works listed focus on different subjects or narratives and do not feature this particular movement.