Multiple Formes and Vertical Setting in Susato's First Edition of Lassus's "Opus 1"

Abstract

In 1555 the Flemish music printer Tielman Susato published the fourteenth and final book in a chanson series he had begun in 1543 shortly after settling in Antwerp': Le quatoirsiesme livre a quatre parties contenant dixhuyct chansons italiennes, six chansons francoises, & six motetz faictz (a la nouvelle composition d'aucuns d'Italie) par Rolando di Lassus. This unusual mixed collection marked the first printing of Italian madrigals and canzoni villanesche in the Low Countries. Popularly termed Lassus's Opus 1, the miscellany signaled the young composer's northern debut in a manner consistent with his precocious versatility. Furthermore, it reconfirmed Susato's reputation as a master craftsman who sought technical perfection in publishing the works of Flemish composers, many for the first time. Within the year Susato released Lassus's first opus under an Italian title that designated the book as the first in a series: D'Orlando di Lassus II primo libro dovesi contengono Madrigali, Vilanesche, Canzoni francesi, e Motetti a quattro voci. This book has often been described as the first edition of Lassus's Opus 1 and Le quatoirsiesme livre as a reprint, or second edition.2 However, Le quatoirsiesme livre is actually the first issue and II primo libro the second issue of the first edition, both having been printed from substantially the same setting of type. In her exemplary bibliographic analysis of Lassus's Opus 1, Kristine Forney identifies all the extant copies of the first edition, including two variant states of Le quatoirsiesme livre, and establishes the actual relationship between issues on the basis of patterns she has deduced in the