Commission for the History of Music

Lexicon musicum Latinum

The Lexicon musicum Latinum, a dictionary of technical musical vocabulary from the Middle Ages up to the end of the 15th century, is compiled and edited under the auspices of the Music Historical  ommission. The dictionary encompasses the substantial corpus of medieval writings devoted to music theory, a corpus that forms a central source for the understanding of medieval culture and the development our western musical tradition; the vocabulary of this corpus even shapes to a significant degree modern musical discourse. The articles in the Lexicon musicum Latinum, in contrast to  eneral dictionaries, emphasize the technical definition of terms and their specifically musical usage in different historical contexts. A special publication series offers supporting studies and editions of  medieval musical treatises.

Musical treatise by Elias Salomo (1274), with drawing of the Guidonian hand.

Edition of Orlando di Lasso

The Music Historical Commission is editing all 1350 or so works of Orlando di Lasso (1530/32–1594). In addition a catalogue of his works has been produced in three volumes.

Lasso came to Munich in autumn 1556 and was employed at the Bavarian court from 1557 until his death. He was the most productive and, along with Palestrina, the most important composer of his day. He led an ensemble which under his direction achieved fame throughout Europe and first gave Munich the status of a leading musical city.

 

First page of music from the Superius part-book of the "Mellange d'Orlande de Lassus" (Paris, 1570). The piece printed here is 'Las voulez vous', one of the composer's most famous chansons.