Lassus: Le Nozze in Baviera (Music for the 1568 Wedding of Wilhelm V of Bavaria and Renate of Lorraine)

The wedding in 1568 of Renate of Lorraine to Wilhelm V, heir to the throne of the Duke of Bavaria, was a sumptuous, 18-day spectacular designed to rival those of the Italian courts. Orlande de Lassus had been the courts maestro di cappella since 1556. Using an eye-witness account of the event, Ensemble Origo presents a hypothetical reconstruction of some of his musical contributions a Te Deum, the moresca (a genre related to the villanella), and an improvised comedy thereby shedding light on some of the various meanings that the music had for its 16th-century listeners.