The Complete Motets 16

Lasso's last motet book was published in Graz in 1594 by Georg Widmanstetter, a former employee of Adam Berg in Munich. In his dedicatory preface, dated 29 September 1593, we encounter the aged melancholic—vulnerable and alienated from a world he fears has already left behind both him and his music.

Some of the motets also display a valedictory quality, notably "Prolongati sunt dies mei," "Deficiat in dolore vita mea," and "Recordare Jesu pie." Most of the texts are biblical or liturgical, but the book also includes a humorous tribute to the pleasures of drink, a sibylline chorus for a Jesuit drama, and the moving encomium to music, "Musica, Dei donum optimi."

The first twenty-six motets in the book represent the eight modes in order, with mode 7 unusually represented by pieces with their finals on A. The last four motets in the book appear to have been added by Lasso or Widmanstetter after the main part of the book had already been set in type.