Like Josquin des Prez, Lassus spent much of his working life in Italy, but returned to Northern Europe in his later years. His Missa in te Domine Speravi is preserved in a manuscript from Paris, where Lassus worked in 1573 at the French court. In complete contrast to the austerity and simplicty of the works by Josquin and Claudin de Sermisy earlier in this series, the Missa in te Domine Speravi is a flamboyant six-part work. It was presented here in a reconstruction of an Ascension Day mass, as it might have been celebrated at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris during the composer’s time in the city.
