The Complete Motets 10

This volume departs from the usual practice of the series in including Lasso's settings of some vernacular texts in addition to motets. Adam Berg issued the so-called "Four-Language Print" in 1573; it contains six Latin motets, six German lieder, six French chansons, and six Italian madrigals, all for four voices, and one eight-voice dialogue in each of the four languages.

This edition publishes the collection integrally for the first time. The four-voice compositions are concise, containing representative examples of Lasso's best work in each language. Five of the madrigals form a cycle drawn from Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. The eight-voice motet, "Unde revertimini," is said to have been performed with another text, "Unde recens reditus," at the French court.

An attempted reconstruction of "Unde recens reditus" is an appendix to this volume, and it indicates strongly that "Unde revertimini" is the text to which the music was originally composed.