LAST
Ah« the chaDge of his voice Orlandus apent about tiiree yeara at the court of the Mftrquess della Teru, at Naples. He next went to Rome, where he enioyed the favour and hospitality, for about a\x monttis, of tJie Cardinal Archbishop of Florence, who was then liviof; there. Through the influence of this prince of the Church. Orlandus obtained the position of choir- master at St. John Lateran, in spite of his extreme jroutb and the fact that there were many capable mu- eicians available. During his residence m Rome, I^Bsua completed his first volume of Maasee for tour voices, and a collection of motets for five voices, all of wbich he had published in Venice. After a sojourn of probably two ycare in Rome, Laasus, learning of the serious illness of his parents, hastened back to Bel- ([ium only to find tliat they had died. His native city Mons not offering him a suitalile field of activity,
It two It was while here that Orlandus received m invitation from Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, not onlv to become the di- rector of Ills court chapel, but also to recruit capable
the Netherlands. While in the em- ployment and under the pro- tection of this art- loving prince, I,as- BU9 developed that phenomenal pro- ductivity as a com- poser which is un- surpassed in the histtiry of music. For thirty-four years he remained active at Munich as composer and director, first under Alltert V, and then under his son and successor, William V. During all tills time ho enjoyed not only the continued and sym- pathetic favour of his patrons and employers, but was also honoured by Pope Gregory XIII, who appointed him Knight of the Golden Spur; by Charles IX of France, who bestowed upon him the cross of tlic Order of Malta: and by Emperor Maximilian, who on 7 De- cemi >er, 1 570, raised I Jissus and his descendants to the nobility. The imperial document conferring the honour is remarkable, not only as showing the enteem in which the master was held by rulers and nations, but particu- larly as evidence of the lofty conception on the part of this monarch of tlic function of art in the social econ- omy. Lassus's great and long-continued activity linnlly told on his mind and caused a depression and Itreak-down, from which he at first rallied but never fully recovered.
tassui was the heir to the centuries of preparation and development of the Netherland school, and was its greatest and also its last representative.
While with many of his contemporaries, even the mo3tnote<l,suchaKDufay, Okeghem, Obn!cht,andJos- quin des Pr^, contrapuntal skdl is often an end in it- self, LassuB, being consummate master of every form of the art and possessing a powerful imagination, al- ways aims at a lofty and truthful interpretation of the text before liim. His genius is of a universal nature. His wide culture and the extensive travels of his youth bad enabled him to absorb the djstmgujshing musical traits of cveri- nationality. None of his contempo- raries had surh a well-defined judgment in the choice of the means of expression which best served his pur- pose. 1^ lyric, epic, and dramatic elements are
12
UTUTE
ORLANnCt
alternately in evidence in his work. But he would
undoubtedly have been greatest in the dramatic style,
had he lived ata later period. Although Loseus lived
at the time of the Reformation, when the individ-
ual and secular spirit manifested itself more and more
in music, and although he interpreted secular poems
such as madrigals, chansottt, and German lieder, the
contents of which were sometimes rather free (as was
not infrequently the case in those times) , his distinction
lies overwheljmngly in his works for the Church.
The diatonic Gregorian modes form the basis of his compositions, and most frequently his themes are taken from liturgical melodies. The number of works the master has left to posterity exceeds two thousand, in every possible form, and in combinations of from two to twelve voices. Many of them remain in manu- script, l>ut the great majority have been printed at Venice, Munich, Nuremberg, Louvain, Antwerp, or Paris. Among his more famous works must be men- tioned his setting of the seven penitential psalms, which for variety, depth, truth of expression, and ele- vation of conception arc unsurpassed. Duke Albert shou'od his admiration for this work by having it written on parchment and liound in two folio vol- umes, which the noted painter Hans Mielicb illus- trated, at the command of the duke, in a most beau- tiful manner. These, with two other smaller volumes containing an analysis of Lassus's and ^lielicll's work liy Samuel van Quickelberg, a contemporary, are preserved in the court library at Munich. I.assus left no fewer than fifty Masses of his composition. Some of these arc l>uilt upon secular melodies, as was cus- tomary in his time, but the thematic material for most of thcni has been taken from the liturgical chant. In 1^04, his two sons, Rudolph and I'erdinand, also musicians of note, published a collection of 516 mo- tets, under the title of "Magnum opus musicum". which was followe.1 in 1609 by " Jubilus B. Maria- Vir- ginis", consisting of 100 settings of the Magnificat. The publication of a critical cilition of Lassus's com- plete works in sixty volumes, prepared by Dr. Haberl and A. Sandberger, was begun in 1894.
BSriiKEn, Orlandun de Ijimi (Freibuix. 1878); Ahbhob. OfMhirhtr dft «fu«*. Ill (I^ipiiK. 1881). 3M-T0; DEt-MOTTE, Not^r bionraphiqar mr Bnlnnd dr IMiTt fVnl™ci»nnps. IS-LI); Matthibo, Roland dt Ijallri (Moiu, 18118); Habebl, Kirrhn- intinicaliKhtm JahrirucA (m04)- ^
Joseph Otten. Last Supper. See Bttppkr, The Last.
Lataste, Mame, b. at Mimbasf* near Da,\, France, 21 Fcbruarj", I822;'d. at Renncs, 10 May, 1S47; was the youngest child of simple pious peasants. Accord- ing to her own narralive, written under obedience, she was a poor, lowly, country girl, knowing nothing but what her mother taught her; hence, in the natural order, all her learning consisted in being able to read, write, sew, and spin. Her knowledge in tlic supeis nutiirn) onlcr long embraced merely the principal tnilhs of nalvation. Little by Utttc tbc liglit gn-w like a vast funuice on which wood is cast, and towards which a mighty wind blows from all sides. The I.onl Jesus, the Light of the World, hail been the light of her soul. He had brought her up a.s a mother docs her chilli, with patience and perseverance; if she knew aught she owed it to Him, she had all from Ilim. A troublesome child, proud, ambitious, and self-con- tained, she was the constant subject of her mother's anxious prayer, and her first Communion, made in her twelfth year, was the turning point in her life. A strong impression of the I>ivine presence on the great day, and confirmation received soon after, strength- ened her piety and virtue, which thenceforward never faltered. About a year, aftflr Marie saw at Mass, during the Elevation, a bnghi light which seemed to inflame her love for the Eucharistic I-ord and to in-
