Orlande de Lassus

Music and influence

One of the most prolific, versatile, and universal composers of the late Renaissance, Lassus wrote over 2000 works in all Latin, French, Italian and German vocal genres known in his time. These include 530 motets, 175 Italian madrigals and villanellas, 150 French chansons, and 90 German lieder. No strictly instrumental music by Lassus is known to survive, or ever to have existed; an interesting omission for a composer otherwise so wide-ranging and prolific.

Related Topics:
Motet - Madrigal - Villanella - Chanson - Lied

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Sacred music

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While Lassus remained Catholic, he largely refused to conform to some of the more severe dictates coming from the Counter-Reformation Council of Trent across the Alps. He lived in a relatively tolerant area, and his predecessor had been a Protestant.

Related Topics:
Catholic - Counter-Reformation - Council of Trent - Protestant

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Almost 60 masses have survived complete; most of them are parody masses based on secular works written by himself or other composers. Technically impressive, they are nevertheless the most conservative part of his output. He usually conformed the style of the mass to the style of the source material, which ranged from Gregorian chant to contemporary madrigals, but always maintained an expressive and reverent character in the final product. In addition to his traditional parody masses, he wrote a considerable quantity of missae breves, "brief masses," syllablic short masses meant for brief services (for example, on days when Duke Albrecht went hunting: evidently he did not want to be detained by long-winded polyphonic music). The most extreme of these is an actual work known as the Jäger Mass (Missa venatorum)—the "Hunter's Mass."

Related Topics:
Parody masses - Gregorian chant - Polyphonic

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Lassus is one of the composers of a style known as musica reservata—a term which has survived in many contemporary references, many of them seemingly contradictory. The exact meaning of the term is a matter of fierce debate, though a rough consensus among musicoligists is that it involves intensely expressive setting of text, chromaticism, and that it may have referred to music specifically written for connoisseurs. A famous example of a composition by Lassus which is a representative of this style is his series of 12 motets entitled Prophetiae Sibyllarum, which is in a wildly chromatic style reminiscent of Gesualdo; some of his chord progressions in this piece were not to be heard again until the 20th century.

Related Topics:
Musica reservata - Chromaticism - Gesualdo - 20th century

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Lassus wrote four settings of the Passion, one for each of the Evangelists, St. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. All are for a cappella voices. He sets the words of Christ and the narration of the Evangelist as chant, while setting the passages for groups polyphonically.

Related Topics:
Passion - St. Matthew - Mark - Luke - John - A cappella - Christ

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As a composer of motets, Lassus was one of the most diverse and prodigious of the entire Renaissance. His output varies from the sublime to the ridiculous, and he showed a sense of humor not often associated with sacred music: for example, one of his motets satirizes poor singers (super flumina Babylonis) which includes stuttering, stopping and starting, and general confusion; it is related in concept if not in style to Mozart's A Musical Joke. Many of his motets were composed for ceremonial occasions, as could be expected of a court composer who was required to provide music for visits of dignitaries, weddings, treaties and other events of state. But it was as a composer of religious motets that Lassus achieved his widest and lasting fame.

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Lassus's setting of the seven Penitential Psalms of David (Psalmi Davidis poenitentiales) is one of the most famous collections of psalm settings of the entire Renaissance. The counterpoint is free, avoiding the pervasive imitation of the Netherlanders such as Gombert, and occasionally using expressive devices foreign to Palestrina. As elsewhere, Lassus strives for emotional impact, and uses variety of texture and care in text setting towards that end. The final piece in the collection, his setting of the De profundis (Psalm 129/130), is considered by many scholars to be one of the high-water marks of Renaissance polyphony, ranking alongside the two settings of the same text by Josquin Desprez.

Related Topics:
Penitential Psalms - Psalmi Davidis poenitentiales - Imitation - Gombert - De profundis - Josquin Desprez

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Among his other liturgical compositions are hymns, canticles (including over 100 Magnificats), responsories for Holy Week, Passions, Lamentations, and some independent pieces for major feasts.

Related Topics:
Hymn - Canticle - Magnificat - Holy Week - Lamentations

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Secular music

Lassus wrote in all the prominent secular forms of the time, including Italian madrigal, French chanson and German lied: he is one of the only Renaissance composers to write prolifically in four languages (Latin, Italian, French and German), and he wrote with equal fluency in each. Many of his songs became hugely popular, circulating widely in Europe. Lassus was probably the only composer of the late Renaissance to have this gift of musical tongues. In these various secular songs he conforms to the manner of the country of origin while still showing his characteristic originality, wit, and conciseness of statement.

Related Topics:
Latin - Italian - French - German

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Madrigals

In his madrigals, many of which he wrote during his stay in Rome, his style is clear and concise, and he wrote tunes which were easily memorable; he also "signed" his work by frequently using the word 'lasso' (and often setting with the sol-fege syllables la-sol, i.e. A-G in the key of C). His choice of poetry varied widely, from Petrarch for his more serious work to the lightest verse for some of his amusing canzonettas.

Related Topics:
Petrarch - Canzonetta

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Lassus often preferred cyclic madrigals, i.e. settings of multiple poems in a group as a set of related pieces of music. For example, his fourth book of madrigals for five voices begins with a complete sestina by Petrarch, continues with two-part sonnets, and concludes with another sestina: therefore the entire book can be heard as a unified composition with each madrigal a subsidiary part.

Related Topics:
Sestina - Sonnet

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Chansons

Another form which Lassus cultivated was the French chanson, of which he wrote about 150. Most of them date from the 1550s, but he continued to write them even after he was in Germany: his latest productions in this genre come from the 1580s. They were enormously popular in Europe, and of all his works, the most widely arranged for instruments such as lute and keyboard. Most were collected in the 1570s and 1580s in three publications: one by Pierre Phalèse in 1571, and two by Le Roy & Ballard in 1576 and 1584. Stylistically, they ranged from the dignified and serious, to playful, bawdy, and amorous compositions, as well as drinking songs suited to taverns.

Related Topics:
Pierre Phalèse - 1571 - 1576 - 1584

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German lieder

A third type of secular composition by Lassus was the German lieder. Most of these he evidently intended for a different audience, since they are considerably different in tone and style from either the chansons or madrigals; in addition, he wrote them later in life, with none appearing until 1567, when he was already well-established at Munich. Many are on religious subjects, although light and comic verse are represented as well. He also wrote drinking songs in German, and contrasting with his parallel work in the genre of the chanson, he also wrote songs on the unfortunate aspects of overindulgence.

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