LASSO (di), Orlando (Roland de Lattre, Orlandus Lassus). - Musician, b. at Mons (Belgium) probably in 1532, d. at Munich on 14 June 1594. A young singer in the Church of St. Nicholas at Mons, he was sought after everywhere for his magnificent voice and marked musical talent. The Viceroy of Sicily, Ferdinando Gonzaga, met him in 1544 and took him with him to Italy. He was first at Mantua, then in Sicily, at Milan, Naples and at Rome in 1552. In 1551 he was summoned by Pope Julius III to the direction of the pontifical musical Chapel.
In 1555 at Antwerp he gave to the press his first work: Il primo libro di Madrigali, villanesche, canzoni francesi e mottetti a quattro voci. In the same year at Venice he published the Primo libro di Madrigali a 5 voci with a very flattering outcome. In the meantime Ludwig Senfl, master of that ducal Chapel, one of the most esteemed in Europe, had died at Munich, and Duke Albert V invited the young Orlando to assume its direction. The latter, well pleased with the invitation, moved to Munich in 1556. Welcomed with great favor with an honorarium of 400 florins a year, besides the customary treatment, he also received from his patrons frequent and conspicuous gifts (even in houses and gardens), knightly diplomas, etc. Between 1573 and 1576 the dukes of Bavaria provided at their own expense for the printing of the sacred music of the L. which was collected in seven large folio volumes, known under the title of Patrocinium musices. The Seven penitential psalms of David, set to music by the L., were had transcribed by the same Dukes at great expense into two very rich illuminated codices.
He remained constant in the service of the chapel of Munich until his death. Before dying, however, in 1585 he went on pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Loreto and revisited Rome, where he was amiably received by the Pope who invested him with the Order of the Golden Spur. The Roman Masters and singers, gathered in those times in the Congregation of St. Cecilia, on that occasion aggregated him to their young sodality. The L. was a good humanist, as is evident from his Latin discourses, quite elegant, from the exquisite taste in the choice of texts, both sacred and profane, set to music by him, from his passion for the Odes of Horace and for the Virgilian Eclogues, of which he set some episodes to music, from his knowledge of French and German poets. He was himself also a poet: in the dedication of a book of his new songs he himself composed the verses in honor of Charles IX.
In the life of the great master two different periods are noticeable. The first period presents the man full of vivacity, who loved life and wanted to live it as a pleasure-seeker, and this is evident also in his compositions, because the music written before 1565 is directed more to the celebration of the pleasures of earthly life than to the exaltation of the pure joys of the spirit.
In the court of Munich the spirit of the sound Catholic reform gradually entered. The dukes of Bavaria, accentuating their aversion to the pseudo-Lutheran reform, became strenuous champions in the Germanic world of the Catholic confession. The L. too felt the change of environment and gradually became more serious, pious, and devoted himself also to works of Christian charity. Psychic disturbances connected with a strong nervous exhaustion embittered the last years of his life. The Seven penitential psalms, for 5 voices, published in 1584, but in part previously composed, are an unequivocal sign of the mutation begun about 15 years earlier. The musical production of the L. became less profane in quantity and acquired a more religious sense, often touching the summit of a felt and profound mysticism. The Cantiones sacrae, which the L. in 1593 dedicated to the bishop of Augsburg, also testify to this decided transformation. In the dedication of that work he alludes to a «vultus gravior».
The artistic production of the L. is most valuable in quality and exceeds 2000 compositions. It can be said that he set to music everything that he could and that he deemed worthy of being clothed in sounds: from the most risqué Neapolitan song to the Mass. A catalogue of it was compiled by R. Eitner (Verzeichnis der gedruckten Werke von Hans Leo Hassler und Orlandus de Lassus, Berlin 1874). An important collection of manuscripts of the L. is preserved at the Library of Munich, among which the Masses: Je suis déshérité and On me l'a dict for 4 voices, Triste départ for 5 voices, Domine, Dominus noster for 6 voices, etc. Besides the Patrocinium musices in 5 vols. which contain: 21 motets (vol. I), 5 masses (vol. II), various Offices (vol. III), Passions and vigil (vol. IV), 10 Magnificat (vol. V), a collection of 100 Magnificat edited in 1619 by his son Rodolfo should be noted. The motets and the «Sacrae cantiones» are about 1200, of which more than half are included in the Magnum opus musicum published in 1614. Very numerous are the madrigals and profane songs printed in various volumes or in collections from 1555 onward. In 1581 the Villamelle saw the light. Noteworthy then is the body of German songs published also in various translations: French, Italian, English, Dutch, etc. The complete edition of the works of the L. was begun in 1894 by the House Breitkopf and Härtel by A. Sandeberger and by F. Haberl.
The L. was a universal genius. He undeniably felt the powerful influence of the Italian masters of the time and, in part, that of the contemporary German masters, namely of N. Jassak and of L. Senft; nor did he renounce the resources of contrapuntal imitations, but he made the most skilled contrapuntal doctrine serve his art. He created in the forms of his time, drew copiously from the sources of musical naturalness, whose laws genius knows by instinct. Criticisms were not lacking, albeit isolated; but of all the masters of classical vocal polyphony he is the only one who in general estimation could be approached or even almost placed on a par with Palestrina.
Bibliography7 works
Lavinio Virgili