Orlando di Lasso

Orlando di Lasso (c. 1532–1594) was a composer from the Low Countries whose prolific sacred and secular vocal music circulated across Europe in several languages.

Renaissance music: European music composed roughly between 1400 and 1600, marked by expanding polyphony and vocal forms. The period’s polyphonic practices frame Lasso’s career and musical language.
Penitential Psalms: Seven biblical psalms traditionally associated with repentance and used in Christian devotion. Lasso’s extensive settings of these psalms became among his best-known sacred works.
Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria: Duke of Bavaria from 1550 to 1579 and a major patron of music at Munich. Albrecht V appointed Lasso to lead the Munich court chapel and supported its musical life.
Mons: A city in the County of Hainaut, in present-day Belgium. Lasso was born in Mons, then part of the Habsburg Netherlands.
Early music revival: The modern movement to study and perform music from earlier historical periods using historically informed approaches. Modern performances and recordings have renewed attention to Lasso’s expansive repertory.
Polyphony: Music in which multiple independent melodic lines sound together. Lasso’s vocal works often weave several independent parts into a unified texture.
Lagrime di San Pietro: A cycle of twenty settings of Luigi Tansillo’s devotional poems about Saint Peter’s remorse. This late Italian-language cycle shows Lasso’s command of dramatic sacred expression.
Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria: Duke of Bavaria from 1579 to 1597, known for his Catholic devotion and court patronage. Lasso continued serving the Munich court under Albrecht’s successor.
Habsburg Netherlands: The Low Countries territories ruled by the Habsburg dynasty during the sixteenth century. This political and cultural region formed Lasso’s place of origin.
Renaissance polychoral music: Renaissance music that divides performers into separate groups, often placed in distinct spatial locations. Lasso’s works contributed to the courtly repertory that preceded the celebrated Venetian polychoral style.

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