Jun15

Lassus's brilliant settings of the Vespers Psalms feature rich textures from five to eight voices as well as masterful counterpoint and text painting. His great
Magnificat Deus in adjutorium is based on his motet setting the opening versicle and response of the Office of Vespers

Palestrina's great Pentecost Mass, the Missa Dum complerentur dies Pentecostes, is based on his famous motet of that name, written for the choir of St. Peter’s in Rome led by the composer. Palestrina's music offers a vivid pictorial evocation of the “sudden” sound from heaven as of a “rushing wind” that heralded the outpouring of the Holy Spirit