In 1585 Adam Berg published thirty-two Lasso motets under the title Sacrae cantiones, all for four voices except the eight-voice "Stabat Mater dolorosa" that concludes the volume. Except for this piece and two others, all the motets in this volume are settings of offertories for the Mass, and most of them appear in a large manuscript of 1581-83 that contains a cycle of Lasso's offertory settings for Advent and Lent. The manuscript presents its contents in calendrical order, but Sacrae cantiones groups its contents by tonal type (though not so as to represent the modes in order), and it does not indicate that its contents are mostly offertories. The motets are beautiful examples of Lasso's writing on a modest scale, except for the expansive "Stabat Mater dolorosa."

Contents

Confitebor tibi, Domine

Domine convertere

Intende voci orationis meae

Improperium exspectavit cor meum

Eripe me de inimicis meis

Jubilate Deo omnis terra

Domine, fac mecum misericordiam

Benedictus es, Domine . . . in labiis

Domine, labia mea aperies

Populum humilem salvum facies, Domine

Precatus est Moyses in conspectu Domini

Super flumina Babylonis

Gressus meos dirige

Factus est Dominus firmamentum meum

Perfice gressus meos in semitis tuis

Custodi me, Domine

Confortamini, et jam nolite timere

Domine Deus salutis meae

Domine, in auxilium meum respice

Benedic anima mea Domino

Adorna thalamum tuum, Sion

Miserere mei Domine

Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina

Domine, exaudi orationem meam

Exspectans exspectavi Dominum

Benedictus es, Domine . . . et respondebo

Benedicam Dominum, qui tribuit

Sperent in te omnes

Benedicte gentes Dominum

Dextera Domini fecit virtutem

Stabat Mater dolorosa

Reviews

Jessie Ann Owens, Notes, March 1999