Orlando di Lasso (c. 1532 – 1594) was a composer of
the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the
mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school,
Lassus stands with William Byrd, Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina, and Tomás Luis de Victoria as one of the
leading composers of the later Renaissance. Immensely
prolific, his music varies considerably in style and
genres, which gave him unprecedented popularity
throughout Europe. His name appears in many spellings,
often changed dep...(+)
Orlando di Lasso (c. 1532 – 1594) was a composer of
the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the
mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school,
Lassus stands with William Byrd, Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina, and Tomás Luis de Victoria as one of the
leading composers of the later Renaissance. Immensely
prolific, his music varies considerably in style and
genres, which gave him unprecedented popularity
throughout Europe. His name appears in many spellings,
often changed depending on the place in which his music
was being performed or published. In addition to
Orlando di Lasso, variations include Orlande de Lassus,
Roland de Lassus, Orlandus Lassus, Orlande de Lattre
and Roland de Lattre.
Since these various spellings or translations of the
same name have been known and accepted for centuries,
and since there is no evidence that he stated a
preference, none of them can be considered incorrect.
Orlando de Lasso was born in Mons in the County of
Hainaut, Habsburg Netherlands (modern-day 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, a formative influence on his early musical
style.
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. The German music publisher Adam Berg dedicated
5 volumes of his Patrocinium musicum (published from
1573–1580) to Lasso's music.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_di_Lasso).
Although originally composed for Chorus (SAATBB), I
created this Arrangement of the "Vexilla regis
prodeunt" (The Royal Banner Forward Goes LV 225) for
Wind Sextet (Flute, Oboe, English Horn, French Horn,
Bass Clarinet & Bassoon).
