The Complete Motets 7

The year 1569 saw the first publication by Adam Berg in Munich of motets by Lasso, Cantiones aliquot quinque vocum, followed in 1570 by a companion volume for six and eight voices. Adam Berg had become court printer for the Bavarian dukes in 1564, and he soon became one of Lasso's most important printers as well, especially of music with Latin or German texts.

The two books include two motets composed explicitly for the wedding in 1568 of Wilhelm of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine, as well as several others with texts that appear suitable for performance during the wedding festivities. Other motets in the two books have the expected sacred texts, including a cantus-firmus setting of the Christmas hymn, "Resonet in laudibus."

Two motets, "Rumpitur invidia" and "Hispanum ad cenam," are decidedly humorous, while "Vinum bonum et suave" is another of Lasso's Latin drinking songs, a parody on the hymn "Verbum bonum et suave." Like other Lasso publications before and after, these books order their contents so as to represent the eight modes in numerical order.