LASSO (di), ORLANDO (Roland de Lattre, Orlandus Lassus). — Musician, born at Mons (Belgium), probably in 1532, died at Munich on 14 June 1594. As a boy chorister in the Church of S. Nicolò at Mons, he was everywhere sought after 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 in Mantua, then in Sicily, Milan, Naples, and Rome in 1552. In 1551 he was summoned by Pope Giulio III to direct the Papal Musical Chapel.
In 1555 at Antwerp he published his first work: Il primo libro di Madrigali, villanesche, canzoni francesi e mottetti a quattro voci. In the same year, in Venice, he published the Primo libro di Madrigali a 5 voci, with highly gratifying results. Meanwhile Ludwig Senfl, master of the Ducal Chapel at Munich, one of the most highly reputed in Europe, had died, and Duke Alberto V invited the young Orlando to assume its direction. Delighted by the invitation, he went to Munich in 1556. Received with great favor, with an annual salary of 400 florins in addition to the customary benefits, he also received frequent and lavish gifts from his patrons (even houses and gardens), knighthoods, and so forth. Between 1573 and 1576 the dukes of Bavaria paid for the printing of L.’s sacred music, which was collected in seven large folio volumes, known by the title Patrocinium musices. The Sette salmi penitenziali di Davide, set to music by L., were, at the expense of the same Dukes, transcribed in two exceedingly rich illuminated codices.
He remained continuously in the service of the Munich chapel until his death. Before dying, however, in 1585 he went on pilgrimage to the shrine of Loreto and revisited Rome, where he was graciously received by the Pope, who bestowed on him the Order of the Golden Spur. The Roman masters and singers, who at that time were gathered in the Congregation of S. Cecilia, on that occasion admitted him to their young association. L. was a good humanist, as is evident from his highly elegant Latin speeches, his exquisite taste in choosing the texts, both sacred and profane, that he set to music, his passion for the Odi of Orazio and the Egloghe of Virgilio, some episodes of which he set to music, and his knowledge of French and German poets. He was also a poet: in the dedication of one of his books of new songs, he himself composed the verses in honor of Carlo IX.
Two different periods can be discerned in the life of the great master. The first presents a man full of vivacity, who loved life and wished to live it as a pleasure-seeker; this is also apparent in his compositions, since the music
written before 1565 is directed more toward the celebration of the pleasures of earthly life than toward the exaltation of the pure joys of the spirit.
At the court of Munich, the spirit of sound Catholic reform gradually took hold. The dukes of Bavaria, intensifying their opposition to the pseudo-Reformation of Luther, became strenuous champions of the Catholic confession in the German world. L. too was affected by the change in environment and gradually became more serious and devout, and also devoted himself to works of Christian charity. Psychological disturbances associated with severe nervous exhaustion embittered the final years of his life. The Sette salmi penitenziali, for five voices, published in 1584 but partly composed earlier, are an unmistakable sign of the change that had begun approximately fifteen years before. L.’s musical production became less profane in quantity and acquired a more religious character, often reaching the summit of a deeply felt and profound mysticism. The Cantiones sacrae, which L. dedicated to the bishop of Augsburg in 1593, also testify to this decisive transformation. In the dedication of that work he alludes to a «vultus gravior».
L.’s artistic production is of the highest merit in quality and exceeds 2,000 compositions. It may be said that he set to music everything he could and considered worthy of being clothed in sound: from the most uninhibited Neapolitan song to the Mass. A catalogue was compiled by R. Eitner (Verzeichnis der gedruckten Werke von Hans Leo Hassler und Orlandus de Lassus, Berlin 1874). An important collection of L.’s manuscripts is preserved in the Munich Library, including the Masses: Je suis déshérité and On me l'a dict for four voices, Triste départ for five voices, Domine, Dominus noster for six voices, etc. Besides the Patrocinium musices in 5 vols., containing: 21 motets (vol. I), 5 masses (vol. II), Various Offices (vol. III), Passions and Vigils (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» number approximately 1,200, more than half of them included in the Magnum opus musicum published in 1614. The madrigals and secular songs printed in various volumes or collections from 1555 onward are exceedingly numerous. The Villamelle appeared in 1581. Also noteworthy is the body of German songs, published as well in various translations: French, Italian, English, Dutch, etc. The complete edition of L.’s works was begun in 1894 by the firm Breitkopf and Härtel, by A. Sandeberger and F. Haberl.
L. was a universal genius. He undeniably felt the powerful influence of the Italian masters of his time and, in part, that of his contemporary German masters, namely N. Jassak and L. Senft; nor did he renounce the resources of contrapuntal imitation, but he made the most refined contrapuntal learning serve his art. He created within the forms of his time and drew abundantly upon the sources of musical naturalness, whose laws genius knows instinctively. Criticism was not lacking, though it was isolated; yet of all the masters of classical vocal polyphony, he is the only one who, in the general estimation, could be approached or even placed almost on a level with Palestrina.