Orlandus Lassus

A Franco-Flemish composer working in Southern Germany with a strong attraction to Italian culture? . . . we will use the universal language for his name—Orlandus, rather than Roland or Orlando. Easily one of the finest and most prolific composers working in the second half of the 16th century . . . compare Palestrina, Byrd, de Monte, Guerrero, etc. Lassus was so famous and highly regarded that a rare contemporary biography (Quickelberg) provides some of the material for this summary.

Mons, his birthplace in 1532, and its main church, Ste Waudru, has many significant musical connections . . . Binchois, Dufay, de Monte, et al; it’s hard to imagine that Lassus would not have been active in that milieu during some of the 12 years he lived there. But the first official Lassus reference is of his service in the retinue of Ferrante Gonzaga, a commander of the Imperial forces of Charles V, which apparently began while the army was occupying the Low Countries around Mons in 1544.

The Gonzaga’s of Mantua cultivated the arts, especially music . . . Gastoldi and Monteverdi were mentioned previously . . . there were many others. But how the the teen-age Lassus benefited musically from the constant turmoil and travel surrounding the campaigns of Ferrante’s army is a mystery. Much of Ferrante’s activity was in Italy so when Lassus left Ferrante’s household in 1550 he found employment in Naples and Rome, even succeeding Animuccia as maestro at St. John Lateran for a year (age 21!).

But it was in Flanders—Antwerp—that Lassus found his first publisher. In 1555 Tilman Susato brought out ’Il primo libro dove si contengono madrigali . . . ‘, the first of scores of publications that eventualy made Lassus the most famous musician of his age. In the following year Lassus entered service as a tenor in the chapel of Albrecht V Duke of Bavaria in Munich. In 1563 he became maestro there for life, and established a musical organization second to none, attracting other musicians like the Gabrieli’s and gleaning recognition from King, Emperor and Pope. His son, Ferdinand, succeeded when he died in 1594.