Lassus: Inferno

Featuring

Daniel Reuss
Cappella Amsterdam
Orlando di Lasso
Anonymous (Gregorian Chant)

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Composer's Artistic Vision

While Lassus's secular music often shows overflowing vitality, the motets on this album illustrate his capacity for deep melancholy, with most composed in his later years.

Composer Biography

Lassus was highly admired by his contemporaries, with poet Ronsard calling him 'the more than divine Orlande,' and he excelled in every vocal genre.

Compositional Technique

Lassus sometimes employed traditional compositional techniques, such as in "Libera me," where a second tenor sings an ostinato motif nine times to structure the work.

Composition History

Less than a month before his death, Lassus signed the dedication for his "Lagrime di San Pietro" (Tears of St Peter), a collection of spiritual madrigals, to which he added the motet "Vide homo."

Compositional Technique

Sixteenth-century sources do not specify the exact vocal or instrumental forces intended for a composition, leaving interpretation to modern performers.

Compositional Technique

In works like "Omnia tempus habent," Lassus uses a homorhythmic texture where words are sung simultaneously by all voices, emphasizing text intelligibility.

Composer Biography

Roland de Lassus, born in Mons in 1530, was recruited as a choirboy for Ferrante Gonzaga, a military leader, and later became maestro di cappella of St John Lateran in Rome.