LASSO, Orlando di – Secular Madrigal ‘Bon eccho’ – 8 CELLOS (easy)

Other Identification:
“O la, o che bon eccho!” translates as “The Echo Song”, and in this secular Madrigal one can hear the two choirs (Voicing: SATB.SATB) constantly in counterpoint.

The original work was first published in 1581 in the ‘Libro de villanelle, moresche et altre canzoni’ as work no. 24, and is in the Italian language.

Orlande de Lassus/Lasso (c.1532 – 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Tomás Luis de Victoria as the leading composers of the later Renaissance. Immensely prolific, his music varies considerably in style and genres, which gave him unprecedented popularity throughout Europe.

One of the most prolific, versatile, and universal composers of the late Renaissance, Lassus wrote over 2,000 works in all Latin, French, Italian and German vocal genres known in his time. These include 530 motets, 175 Italian madrigals and villanellas, 150 French chansons, and 90 German lieder.

Curiously, no strictly instrumental music by Lassus is known to survive, or ever to have existed: an interesting omission for a composer otherwise so wide-ranging and prolific, during an age when instrumental music was becoming an ever-more prominent means of expression, all over Europe. Therefore, this eight-cello transcription can make an interesting addition to cello octet repertoire!