Duke Albert V of Bavaria was, in that same year of 1555, busy
acquiring the best singers for his chapel. This sovereign, a great
friend of the arts if somewhat spendthrift, had asked the
Vice-Chancellor of the court in Vienna, no less, to find him singers in
Flanders, for Flemish singers were renowned to be the best in Europe.
And so it was that the young Lassus, who after two years of searching
had not managed to find a secure position with a powerful institution or
person in Flanders, despite the publication (in 1556) of a second
collection, the “Antwerp book of motets”, accepted a post at the court
of the Duke of Bavaria as a tenor, no doubt after a certain amount of
hard bargaining.
Albert V, of the family Wittelsbach, married to Anna of Hapsburg
(Anna von Österreich), Charles V’s niece – the families were traditional
allies – had come to power six years previously. When Lassus arrived,
the couple had already produced five children, including three boys.
William (Wilhelm), the eldest at eight years old, was next in line to
the throne, and his brothers Ferdinand and Ernest (Ernst) would,
following unchangeable tradition, make their careers either in the army
or the church (Ernest was made a bishop at the age of 12, and became
Archbishop of Cologne in 1583). Their father, fascinated by the
splendour of the Italian courts in which he had passed much of his
youth, was set upon making his own shine with the same brilliance in all
aspects of culture, the arts, literature and, of course, music. The
arrival of Lassus not only marked the acquisition of an excellent
singer, one moreover destined to replace the current Kapellmeister
(which came about in 1562), but also a composer of some reputation, able
to respond (and with what speed and fecundity!) with both liturgical
and occasional works to the needs of all kinds of celebrations. For
example, the motet Cernere virtutes is an epithalamium composed in 1557
for the marriage of Albert V’s sister, the princess Matilda (Mechtilde),
to the Margrave Philibert of Baden.
Lassus’s capacity for work enabled him to assume not only the heavy
duties of Kapellmeister (including the musical education of the
choristers) but to compose for himself works independent of any
immediate need, and their publication in all the main centres of
printing in France, Germany and Italy brought him a Europe-wide
reputation. When he arrived in Munich, he had no German at all, and it
was not until 1567 that he felt able to compose his first collection of
Lieder, which was dedicated to the young William. These Newe teütschen
Liedlein were followed by two other volumes, in 1572 and 1576, dedicated
respectively to Albert’s other sons, Ferdinand and Ernest.
The two publications which are the basis for this recording are also
witness to this spirit of friendly respect. The first, Liber motettarum
trium vocum, printed in Munich by Adam Berg, is dated August 15, 1575,
and dedicated (in verse) to the three brothers “Vuilhelmo, Fernando,
Ernesto, fratribus almi / Qui et trini referunt maxima dona Dei […]”
which could be taken to mean that these three “greatest gifts from God”
could sing these eighteen 3-part motets together. The second, Novae
aliquot… ad duas voces cantiones, issued by the same publisher in 1577,
is dedicated to William alone (with whom Lassus maintained a real and
deep friendship, as is shown by their correspondence), noting that they
had been composed at William’s express wish; perhaps they were prompted
by William’s talent as an amateur viol player. This volume is divided
into two equal parts: the first consisting of 12 vocal duos, and the
second of 12 textless works, which must be instrumental duos. The
instrumental character of certain passages –long somewhat jagged lines
of quavers– confirm this hypothesis, prefiguring the idiomatic
instrumental writing found in the earliest Italian sonatas at the
beginning of the 17th century.