Lectiones Matutinae De Nativitate Christi H. Xix 137 Lll. Lectio Tertia Consurge Consurge Induerte Fortitudine Tua - Music

Lectiones Matutinae De Nativitate Christi H. Xix 137 Lll. Lectio Tertia Consurge Consurge Induerte Fortitudine Tua by Orlando Di Lasso

Orlando Di Lasso

Artist Biography For Orlando Di Lasso

Orlando Di Lasso Also Orlande De Lassus Orlandus Lassus Roland De Lassus Or Roland Delattre 1532 Possibly 1530 – June 14 1594 Was A Franco-Flemish Composer Of Late Renaissance Music. Along With Palestrina Of The Roman School He Is Today Considered To Be The Chief Representative Of The Mature Polyphonic Style Of The Franco-Flemish School And He Was The Most Famous And Influential Musician In Europe At The End Of The 16th Century. He Was Born In Mons In The Province Of Hainaut In What Is Today Belgium. Information About His Early Years Is Scanty Although Some Uncorroborated Stories Have Survived The Most Famous Of Which Is That He Was Kidnapped Three Times Because Of The Singular Beauty Of His Singing Voice. At The Age Of Twelve He Left The Low Countries With Ferrante Gonzaga And Went To Mantua Sicily And Later Milan From 1547 To 1549 . While In Milan He Made The Acquaintance Of The Madrigalist Spirito L'Hoste Da Reggio An Influence Which Was Formative On His Early Musical Style. He Then Worked As A Singer And A Composer For Costantino Castrioto In Naples In The Early 1550s And His First Works Are Presumed To Date From This Time. Next He Moved To Rome Where He Worked For Cosimo I De' Medici Grand Duke Of Tuscany Who Maintained A Household There And In 1553 He Became Maestro Di Cappella Of The Basilica Di San Giovanni In Laterano In Rome A Spectacularly Prestigious Post For A Man Only Twenty-One Years Old But He Stayed There Only For A Year Palestrina Took This Post A Year Later In 1555 . No Solid Evidence Survives For His Whereabouts In 1554 But There Are Contemporary Claims That He Traveled In France And England. In 1555 He Returned To The Low Countries And Had His Early Works Published In Antwerp 1555-1556 . In 1556 He Joined The Court Of Duke Albrecht V Of Bavaria Who Was Consciously Attempting To Create A Musical Establishment On A Par With The Major Courts In Italy Lasso Was One Of Several Netherlanders To Work There And By Far The Most Famous. He Evidently Was Happy In Munich And Decided To Settle There. In 1558 He Married Regina Wäckinger The Daughter Of A Maid Of Honor Of The Duchess They Had Two Sons Both Of Whom Became Composers. By 1563 Lasso Had Been Appointed Maestro Di Cappella Succeeding Ludwig Daser In The Post. Lasso Remained In The Service Of Albrecht V And His Heir Wilhelm V For The Rest Of His Life. By The 1560s Lasso Had Become Quite Famous And Composers Began To Go To Munich To Study With Him. Andrea Gabrieli Went There In 1562 And Possibly Remained In The Chapel For A Year Giovanni Gabrieli Also Possibly Studied With Him In The 1570s. His Renown Had Spread Outside Of Strictly Musical Circles For In 1570 Emperor Maximilian II Conferred Nobility Upon Him A Rare Circumstance For A Composer Pope Gregory XIII Knighted Him And In 1571 And Again In 1573 The King Of France Charles IX Invited Him To Visit. Some Of These Kings And Aristocrats Attempted To Woo Him Away From Munich With More Attractive Offers But Lasso Was Evidently More Interested In The Stability Of His Position And The Splendid Performance Opportunities Of Albrecht's Court Than In Financial Gain. "I Do Not Want To Leave My House My Garden And The Other Good Things In Munich " He Wrote To The Duke Of Saxony In 1580 Upon Receiving An Offer For A Position In Dresden. In The Late 1570s And 1580s Lasso Made Several Visits To Italy Where He Encountered The Most Modern Styles And Trends. In Ferrara The Center Of Avant-Garde Activity He Doubtless Heard The Madrigals Being Composed For The D'Este Court However His Own Style Remained Conservative Indeed Becoming More Simple And More Refined As He Aged. In The 1590s His Health Began To Decline And He Went To A Doctor Named Thomas Mermann For Treatment Of What Was Called "melancholia Hypocondriaca" However He Still Was Able To Compose As Well As Travel Occasionally. His Final Work Was One Of His Best Pieces An Exquisite Set Of Twenty-One Madrigali Spirituali Known As The Lagrime Di San Pietro "Tears Of St. Peter" Which He Dedicated To Pope Clement VIII And Which Was Published Posthumously In 1595. Lasso Died In Munich On June 14 1594 The Same Day That His Employer Decided To Dismiss Him For Economic Reasons He Never Saw The Letter. One Of The Most Prolific Versatile And Universal Composers Of The Late Renaissance Lasso Wrote Over 2 000 Works In All Latin French Italian And German Vocal Genres Known In His Time. These Include 530 Motets 175 Italian Madrigals And Villanellas 150 French Chansons And 90 German Lieder. No Strictly Instrumental Music By Lasso Is Known To Survive Or Ever To Have Existed An Interesting Omission For A Composer Otherwise So Wide-Ranging And Prolific During An Age When Instrumental Music Was Becoming An Ever-More Prominent Means Of Expression All Over Europe.