Lassus, Orlandus

Period: Renaissance

Born: 1532 in Mons, Belgium

Died: Tuesday, June 14, 1594 in Munich, Germany

Nation of Origin: Belgium

Major Works:

Renaissance German Lieder such as Ich armer Mann
Italian Madrigals

Other Information:

He is also known as Orlando di Lasso, Roland de Lassus, and sometimes Roland Delattre. Lassus' music represents the Flemish version of Renaissance polyphony. His work compares favorably to his Italian contemporary, Palestrina, his English contemporary, Byrd, and his Spanish contemporary, Victoria. He worked in many places in Europe most importantly in Rome as maestro of the Lateran (1553-1554), for Duke Albrecht V at the court of Munich in Bavaria (1556 or 1557), and as head of the ducal chapel (1560 until his death in 1594). His final years, unfortunately, were marked by emotional depression.

General Bibliography:

Reese, Gustave, Music in the Renaissance, W.W. Norton & Company; November 1959, ISBN: 0393095304

Sachs, Curt, The Rise of Music in the Ancient World , W. W. Norton & Company, 1943, ASIN: 0393097188

Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura; Editors, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Gale Group, December 2000, ISBN: 0028655257

Sadie, Stanley and Tyrrell, John; Editors, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Groves Dictionaries, Inc., January 2004, ISBN: 0195170679

Rutherford-Johnson, Tim, Kennedy, Michael, and Kennedy, Joyce The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 6th Edition, 2012, ISBN: 0199578109


Links to essays at other sites:

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Biographical essay from Wikipedia
A new site about Lassus (in Italian)


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