[1][2] Couperin's Leçons de ténèbres use the Latin text of the Old Testament Book of Lamentations, in which Jeremiah deplores the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.
Musical settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet were common in the Renaissance, famous polyphonic examples being those by Thomas Tallis, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Lassus, and Palestrina.
Leçons de ténèbres were a particular French subgenre of this music which rose to prominence during the reign of King Louis XIV, with other similar settings being composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Michel Delalande and others.
Couperin's settings of the Leçons de Ténèbres are scored for soprano vocalists and basso continuo.
Couperin originally intended to write two more sets of three for the proceeding two days of Holy Week, but they were either lost or never completed;[3] indeed, this was the last work of sacred vocal music he wrote.