On the Style of Lasso's Missa Sesquialtera

On the Style of Lasso’s Missa Sesquialtera 415

Druckerei C. H . Beck

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On the Style of Lasso’s Missa Sesquialtera William Peter Mahrt

ON THE STYLE OF LASSO’S MISSA SESQUIALTERA

Revision

WILLIAM PETER MAHRT On November 23, 1579, a double wedding of the Fugger family took place in Augsburg. The festivities lasted for four days and included an impressive assemblage of nobility, a rich feeding of guests, and entertainments, especially dancing1. The ritual centerpiece of the festivities, the wedding Mass, was by Orlando di Lasso, his Missa sesquialtera2. James Haar has provided ample information on the event and on the sources of this Mass in an excellent article, A Wedding Mass by Lasso3. Prof. Haar was interested in the Mass for the possibility that Lasso’s use of pro-portions there might be a historicism, a harking back to „Lasso’s Franco-Netherlandish musi-cal ancestors“, but he found no connection with the earlier proportional use.

Prof. Haar also addressed the question of borrowed material4. The Kyrie begins with a statement of a theme in sesquialtera proportion, quite apparently a pre-existing piece of some kind. This theme, however, is used in a manner somewhat atypical for a parody Mass. Instead of being the systematic polyphonic basis of the whole work, it occurs in just a few places in the manner of a recall or a refrain. Haar is quite correct that several other places in the Mass relate motivically to the borrowed material; nevertheless, the distinctive character of the few occurrences of the theme in recall is exceptional, though it still might be called a parody Mass.

I, too, was attracted by the proportions, and concur: they have an entirely different founda-tion. I first performed the work in a liturgical context in 1978 and have continued to do so about twice a year ever since. It has taken its place among the five or six most favorite Masses my choir sings regularly. It was only after several performances that I realized just what the role of the proportions was. My purpose here is to show how Lasso’s use of proportions is part of a distinctive style focussed upon expressive tempo changes and to suggest a reason for his choice of this style for this work.

Lasso’s use is related to a well-known statement of Vicentino, which embraced a rhetorical way of singing, exhorting singers to interpret a song as an orator would, with expressive changes of dynamics and tempo:

„The measure should change according to the words, now slower and now faster […] The experience of the orator can be instructive, if you observe the technique he follows in his oration. For he speaks now loud and now soft, now slow and now fast, thus greatly moving his listeners. This technique of changing the measure has a powerful effect on the soul. For this reason music is sung from memory, so as to imitate the accents and effects of the parts of an oration […]

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1 Nicolaus Reusner, De nuptiis illustrum heroum, heroinarumque, Lauingen 1579. 2 Orlando di Lasso, Sämtliche Werke, Neue Reihe vol.10, Messen 49–55: Handschriftlich überlieferte Messen, II, ed.

Siegfried Hermelink, Kassel usw. 1970, pp.69–90. 3 James Haar, A Wedding Mass by Lasso, in: Journal of Musicology 17 (1999), pp.112–135. 4 Haar, Wedding Mass (see footnote 3), pp.127–133.

416 William Peter Mahrt




If the orator moves listeners with the devices described above, how much greater and more powerful will be the effect of well-coordinated music?“5

Although this view only addresses the rhetoric of the performer, composers also treated words rhetorically by writing expressive changes into the music. A master of such expressive control of tempo and meter was Cipriano de Rore. His setting of Petrarca’s sestina Mia be-nigna fortuna (Example 1)6 epitomizes the technique: by combining changes between duple meter and sesquialtera proportion with varying note values, he achieves a rhetorical projec-tion of successively changing affects. The musical rhythm of the first line (mm. 1–5) empha-sizes the accents of the text, creating a slight acceleration. A change to sesquialtera (mm. 5–8) gives ‚and the happy life‘ a somewhat quicker tempo, while the return to duple meter to-gether with shorter note values (mm. 9–11) gives ‚the bright days‘ yet a quicker expression; then ‚the tranquil nights‘ is set to longer values (mm. 12–15), first half and then dotted half-notes, creating a gradual ritard. This is the kind of rhetorical tempo change that is the expres-sive focus of Lasso’s Mass as well.

The Mass was never printed; it exists in two manuscript sources from the same scribe7; the earlier manuscript simply names it Missa brevis (indicating brevis with the square note shape rather than a word). The later source replaces that brevis with the signature cut circle plus 3 over 2, sesquialtera. Though it is likely that Lasso did not specify a name8, Sesquialtera would still seem to be a suitable title, for two reasons: first, the theme itself is entirely in the sesquial-tera proportion in both its original and recall occurrences; but more important, it is the ses-quialtera proportion that facilitates the subtle shifts of tempo which pervade the piece.

Thus the use of proportion is not for the proportional aesthetic of Lasso’s Franco-Flemish forbears but for a new aesthetic of expressive tempo gradation. By combining a wide range of prevailing note values with changes between ‚tempus imperfectum diminutum‘ and ‚propor-tio sesquialtera‘, coupled with emphasis upon word declamation, Lasso provides a panoply of changes of speed, differentiating the various lines of the text in kaleidoscopic shifts of expres-sion. Remarkably, this all takes place within a common beat, in either duple or triple divi-sion. In the course of the piece, sesquialtera is indicated either by mensuration and propor-tion signs (Example 2)9 or by coloration (Example 3)10.

The theme itself does not take part in the tempo changes; rather, as a point of departure, it is in one consistent rhythmic style, a lilting triple rhythm perhaps recalling the dance which played a prominent role in the celebration of the wedding11. The complete theme occurs as _________________________________________________________________________________________________

5 Nicola Vicentino, Ancient Music Adapted to Modern Practice, trans. & introd. Maria Rika Maniates, ed. Claude V. Palisca, New Haven 1996, pp.301–302.

6 Cipriano de Rore, Opera Omnia, ed. Bernhard Meier, vol.4, Rom 1969, p.79. 7 The scribe was Johannes Dreher; his earlier manuscript choirbook, dated 1579, Vienna, Oesterreichische

Nationalbibliothek (A-Wn), Ms. 11 773, is a presentation copy commemorating the wedding and dedicated to music performed at it; the later manuscript choirbook, dated 1580, is an anthology of Masses, Augsburg, Staats- und Stadtbibliothek, Tonkunst Schletterer, Ms. 19 (cf. Lasso, Neue Reihe, 10, see footnote 2, pp.ix-x, and Haar, Wedding Mass, see footnote 3, pp.113–114).

8 Dreher may have simply named it Missa brevis as a generic title, since its borrowed material is not identified; when he came to include it in a collection of several Masses, others of which were stylistically also Missae breves, „sesquialtera“ would have distinguished it from the other Masses. Still, Missa brevis, especially since the brevis is indicated as a note-shape, could have carried a more specific meaning: the unit of the breve is the point of commensurability between the proportional tempos.

9 A-Wn Ms. 11 773, fol.13v. 10 A-Wn Ms. 11 773, fol.30v. 11 Thanks to James Haar for suggesting this connection with the dance; for an illustration of such a dance at

Augsburg, see Haar, Wedding Mass (see footnote 3), Plate II.





the first Kyrie, all in sesquialtera (Example 4). The second Kyrie illustrates permutation of rhythm and tempo as a purely musical technique, not particularly related to the text (Ex-ample 5). As it begins, there is a gradual increase of speed by accumulation of quicker notes (mm. 28–32) until a shift to sesquialtera creates a notable acceleration and leads to a strong half-cadence (mm. 33–36). This is followed by a climactic passage back in duple (mm. 36–39) leading to a recapitulation of the theme in sesquialtera (mm. 40–43). There are thus four dif-ferent rhythmic and dynamic passages in succession: duple, sesquialtera, strong passage in du-ple, recall of the theme in sesquialtera. Moreover, these create a dynamic curve that unifies the section.

The Gloria relates the technique to the text, and it illustrates it so well that I have given the entire movement in score in order to show its progress in some detail. Here the succession of phrases of the text is the focal point of the expression, each phrase being differentiated from the other by tempo, meter, declamation, and/or texture. The range of tempos is illustrated in a tabulation of the rhythms of characteristic phrases from the Gloria to show their relative du-rations (Example 6). Throughout the Gloria successive lines, or parts of lines are set off by changes of rhythm, sometimes as a means of representing the declamation of this prose text; sometimes, in addition, they represent the specific meaning of the text; frequently they create a sense of dynamic change as well, strongly suggesting a crescendo or decrescendo.

The Gloria (Example 7) begins in sesquialtera, but instead of continuing in a consistent me-ter, successive measures express different kinds of hemiola: the first measure moves in units of three semibreves (‚tempus perfectum‘), the second, three imperfect breves (simulating ‚modus perfectus‘, ‚tempus imperfectum‘), the third, three minims (simulating ‚prolatio maior‘); the following measure is metrically mixed; each of these measures reflects the rhythm of its par-ticular text in simultaneous declamation.

An additional permutation takes place at „Adoramus te“ (mm. 6–8) by the shift to simple ‚tempus perfectum diminutum‘, leaving this text in a noticeably slower tempo. Of the four brief acclamations (beginning „Laudamus te“, m. 4), „Adoramus te“ is the one that calls for the greatest sense of reverence, and the missal confirms this by prescribing that the priest bow during these words12; Lasso’s slower tempo is a musical correlative of the gesture. „Glorificamus te“ (mm. 8–10) in contrast, is twice as fast through employment of shorter notes.

The new paragraph of the text, „Gratias agimus tibi“ (mm. 10–13), is articulated by the first use of imitative entries, but that is followed by a syncopation of the word accents on „propter magnam gloriam tuam“ (mm. 13–15) in simultaneous declamation.

A new texture begins on „Domine Deus“ (mm. 15–21), where one voice makes a synco-pated anticipation of the rhythm of the other voices, first the tenor on „Domine“, then the soprano on „Deus“ and again on „Rex“, until all the voices join in a cumulative syncopated statement of „Deus Pater“.

The address to the Son, „Domine Fili“ (mm. 21–28), is distinguished from that to the Father by being in paired imitative duets. By convention, the sensitive words „Jesu Christe“ (mm. 29–33) are often set to long notes, and in one of two ways: either with a sense of wonder and awe – softly, or with a sense of climax and triumph – strongly. This one suggests, after reduced voices, a soft beginning, but a crescendo, indicated by accumulating motion to a Phrygian cadence (mm. 32–33), and by the fact that its appositive, „Domine Deus Agnus Dei“ (mm. 33–38), springs directly from the cadence in sesquialtera in very quick _________________________________________________________________________________________________

12 Missale Romanum, editio princeps (1570), reprint, ed. Manlio Sodi & Achille Maria Triacca, Vatican City 1998, pp.11, 295.

On the Style of Lasso’s Missa Sesquialtera





rhythms13, creating a climactic conclusion to the first half of the Gloria, emphasized by repetitions of the words „Filius Patris“. This sesquialtera passage employs the kind of hemiola seen in declamation at the beginning of the Gloria, but now in contrapuntal combination, „Domine“ generally being set as perfect tempus (seen most clearly in the soprano, mm. 33–34), but „Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris“ first as imperfect tempus, perfect modus (seen most clearly in the soprano, m. 34, and in the tenor and bass, mm. 35–36), and then „Filius Patris“ as major prolation (in the bass, mm. 37–38). Performance of this passage requires each individual part to project these metric mixtures somewhat inde-pendently.

The turn to petition, at „Qui tollis“ (mm. 39–41), begins considerably slower, but the plea „miserere nobis“ (mm. 41–44) is emphasized by quicker note values and syncopations. The next „Qui tollis“ petition (mm. 44–46) is differentiated by being set in sesquialtera, creating a slightly faster tempo and leading to the plea, „suscipe deprecationem nostram“: this last clause abandons regular metric rhythms in favor of the rhythm of the words in quick declamation, giving it greater emphasis and concurring with the convention which sets this as the most urgent of the three pleas, and a clause for which the missal prescribes another bow14. The third petition, „Qui sedes“ (mm. 46–52), is symmetrical with the first.

The concluding acclamations beginning „Quoniam tu solus sanctus“ (mm. 52–64) suggest a crescendo to „Jesu Christe“, which then begins strongly, but slower, with a possible decre-scendo at the end, the opposite of its presentation earlier.

The final doxology (mm. 65–81) begins in a somewhat understated way, but this is a point of departure for the most extreme acceleration of the movement, including syncopations and triple groupings on the level below prolation (half-quarter), creating an excited and climactic conclusion with just a slight written-out ritard on the last „Amen“.

Throughout the Gloria, the mode and syllabic text-setting create a stable and consistent point of departure, while changes of tempo and texture make for a striking ‚varietas‘ in the setting of the text.

The Credo continues in the same style of expressive declamation through tempo change. Three other aspects of expression can be seen as well in the Credo. The first is explicit word-painting: at „descendit de caelis“ (Example 8) a scalewise descent in every voice more than adequately convinces the listener that an important descent has taken place. This passage not only reinforces the conventional pictorialism setting these words, but it also creates an em-phatic preparation for what follows, and it does it by hyperbolic repetition. The declamatory text-setting is so prevalent in this Mass that instances of repetition are rare, and when they do occur, they create notable emphasis. Here the repetition is extensive. It would have been sufficient for the bass to have descended a fourth from high B flat to a cadence on G (mm. 43–45), but the figure is then extended by the tenor, leading with a descent of a ninth, arriv-ing at C in m. 48, while a cadence with the tenor is created by the alto, elaborated by much diminution; this very emphatic arrival on C prepares the bass entrance on a high C, from which this voice descends an eleventh to the final cadence on G. This high C in the bass is out of range – the bass range throughout the whole Mass does not exceed B flat, with one other exception, on „altissimus“ (Gloria, m. 58), most high. Joachim Burmeister iden-tified such an exceeding of the range of a voice with the rhetorical figure ‚hyperbole‘,

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13 The sesquialtera proportion is prescribed here by coloration, indicated in the edition by small broken brackets, moving, of course, in the ratio of three in the time of two.

14 Missale Romanum (see footnote 12), pp.11, 295.





exaggeration15. But there is also hyperbole in the extra repetition incorporating that bass motion.

The second aspect is that of surprise. Prepared by the prominent descent just referred to, „Et incarnatus est“ (Example 9) carries a strong convention of setting these words to slow block chords, culminating in „et homo factus est“, often representing the word rhythms. Las-so begins „Et incarnatus est“ completely conventionally; „de spiritu sancto“ adds some com-plexity; „ex maria virgine“ is again quite conventional, with a strong cadence preparing for „et homo factus est“. What happens then is a surprise. The convention should be an alterna-tion of semibreves and breves, the breves on the accented syllables. Instead, Lasso sets „et homo factus est“ in sesquialtera, creating a swifter tempo in hemiolas, first of three semi-breves, then of three minims. This must be for the emphasis upon the words, yet the conven-tion was already for that purpose. Here Lasso directly transcends the convention, drawing at-tention at the same time to the words in an extraordinary and surprising way.

The third aspect is that of virtuosity. This is not a Mass calling for a great deal of virtuosity in the usual sense of the word. Indeed, the title Missa brevis is quite suitable – general the Mass sets forth the words efficiently and quite briefly. Yet, in another sense, this is not a typi-cal Missa brevis, since its style is what I would call eccentric. Moreover, there are sections of considerable virtuosity. Immediately after „et homo factus est“ the Credo has a pair of duets, soprano and alto (Example 10), then tenor and bass. These are filled with intricate singing, quick syncopations, triplets, and a breath-taking acceleration to the end. While these passages can be negotiated by soloists, they add an element of virtuosity not usually heard in a missa brevis.

If there are elements of historicism in this Mass, the style of these duets could be one of them. It harks back to the splendid duos in the Masses of Josquin, for example, „Pleni sunt caeli“ in the Missa Pange lingua16, but several others as well, with their quasi-canonic passages at close intervals, triplet interpolations, and rhythmic culminations17.

Another element of historicism is sometimes seen in Sanctus movements of late Renais-sance composers: the use of a cantus firmus style briefly at the beginning of the Sanctus (Ex-ample 3). Of all the parts of the Ordinary of the Mass, this text from the Old Testament, Isaiah, calls forth a most ancient and hieratic image of God, reaching back to the very roots of liturgy. It is characterized musically by reference to a style reaching back in the history of polyphony – to a cantus firmus style a century old.

The Missa sesquialtera is, then, a work of exceptional character. It is true that other Masses of Lasso show some of these rhythmic characteristics, and the ordering of materials in many of his works suggests dynamic changes that might be called the „Lasso crescendo“. Still, I do not know any Mass that uses written-out changes of tempo as they are used here – as the princi-pal means of expression throughout the work. It must be emphasized that the changes of

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15 „Hyperbole is pushing a melody up beyond its upper boundary“, illustrated by an example of Lasso; Joachim Burmeister, Musical Poetics, tr. Benito V. Rivera, New Haven 1993, p.183.

16 Josquin Des Prez, The Collected Works, vol.4: Masses based on Gregorian chants 2, ed. by Willem Elders, Utrecht 2000, pp.68–70.

17 A glance at the seventy Masses of Lassus’s Sämtliche Werke shows the present duets to be unique among his Mas-ses. After the affective and sometimes homophonic „Et homo factus est“, the „Crucifixus“ is frequently set to reduced voices – in four voiced Masses as duets. These duets sometimes show close imitation and passage-work in semiminims; what they do not show, though, is the rhythmic complication seen here – the interpolation of triple rhythms and the culmination in accelerated syncopations, nor do they show as much of the text set to only two voices as here („Crucifixus“ through „non erit finis“). Of all of Lasso’s settings of „Crucifixus“, this one stands out as being the most intricate and requiring the greatest skill of the performer.






tempo are all achieved while keeping a common beat, with either duple or triple subdivision. I acknowledge that at first I did not realize their significance. It was only upon a repeat per-formance of the piece that a perceptive student in the congregation came to me asking, „What were you doing to that poor Lasso Mass? You were stretching it all out of shape!“ I responded, „Not I, but Lasso“.

Why this Mass for this occasion? There is no direct evidence that the work was written explicitly for this wedding. In fact, as Haar points out, two of the four works in the Vienna manuscript were not, since they are found in earlier sources. Yet, the lack of earlier sources for the Mass itself and its absence in any but manuscripts closely related to the wedding leaves open the possibility, even suggests, that the wedding was the occasion for its composition. My contention here is that the style of the work suggests its suitability for the occasion as well.

As a work for the Fugger wedding, consider Lasso’s task: a Mass for an important occasion, for a patron well-known to him, but for a performance which he most likely did not direct18. This was not like his own performances for the Hofkapelle, for which he was known to have expended much energy in rehearsal and for which repeated performances of the same work could well enhance the reception of a Mass he composed for the closed circle of the court. This work, however, would be performed only once, for a most distinguished audience, and he must have known that they expected something beautiful from him. Therefore, a Missa brevis, in only four voices, not too long so that its performance could be well-rehearsed; a work whose text could easily be heard, but whose expression would be immediately striking; a work which, when entrusted to other performers, would still securely project Lasso's sense of expression. While its use of tempo might be called mannerist, it is far from ‚musica reser-vata‘ – it makes little use of word-painting, none of chromaticism; yet at one and the same time, it presents the text in a subtle and sophisticated manner but does so in a style that is open and public. _________________________________________________________________________________________________

18 Haar makes the case that Lasso probably did not attend the wedding, Wedding Mass (see footnote 3), p.117.





Appendix: Music examples

Example 1: Cipriano de Rore, Mia benigna fortuna, mm. 1–15






Example 2: Lasso, Missa sesquialtera, Gloria, beginning, soprano,

A-Wn, Ms 11 773, fol.13v (with kind permission of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek)

Example 3: Lasso, Missa sesquialtera, Sanctus, beginning, soprano,

A-Wn, Ms 11 773, fol.13v (with kind permission of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek)





Example 4: Lasso, Missa sesquialtera, Kyrie I

(Examples of Missa sesquialtera with kind permission of the Bärenreiter Verlag)






Example 5: Lasso, Missa sesquialtera, Kyrie II





Example 6: Lasso, Missa sesquialtera, durations in Gloria






Example 7: Lasso, Missa sesquialtera, Gloria





Example 8: Lasso, Missa sesquialtera, Credo, „descendit de caelis“






Example 9: Lasso, Missa sesquialtera, Credo, „Et incarnatus est“





Example 10: Lasso, Missa sesquialtera, Credo, „Crucifixus“


On the Style of Lasso's Missa Sesquialtera

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