and sung at the present day.

The third period of the Netherlandish school embraced four very
eminent names--Gombert, Willaert, Goudimel and Cyprian de Rore. The
three latter were successively chapel masters at the cathedral of St.
Mark's in Venice, and were eminent lights of the Venetian school. It
is a significant indication of the commercial decadence of the
Netherlands, which had now set in, that all the composers of this
period distinguished themselves in foreign countries. Nicholas
Gombert, a pupil of Josquin, became master of singers, and afterward
directed the music at the royal chapel in Madrid from 1530. He was a
prolific composer of masses, motettes, chansons and other works. Of
the remaining members of this period mention will be made in
connection with the account of the music in St. Mark's, where they all
distinguished themselves.

The most gifted of all these Netherlandish masters was Orlando de
Lassus, who was born in Belgium, educated at Antwerp, spent some time
in Italy, and finally settled at Munich, where he lived for about
forty years, as musical director and composer. The compositions of
this great man fill many volumes. He distinguished himself in every
province of music, being equally at home in secular madrigals--quite a
number of which are heard even at the present day with satisfaction--masses
and other heavy church compositions, and instrumental works. He was a
cultivated man of the world who held an honored position at court and
made a great mark in the community. He founded the school at Munich
which, with rare good fortune, has occupied a distinguished position
ever since, and has been, and still is, one of the most important
musical centers in Europe, as all who are acquainted with the history
of Richard Wagner, or the reputation of the present incumbent, the
Master Rheinberger, will readily see. In Lassus we begin to have the
spontaneity of the modern composer. The quaintness of the Middle Ages
still lingers to some extent, and learning he had in plenty when it
suited him to use it, but he was also capable of very simple and
direct melodic expression and quaint and very fascinating harmony.
While the tonality is still vague, like that of the church modes, the
music itself is thoroughly chordal in character, and evidently planned
with reference to the direct expression of the text. A large number of
madrigals have come down to us from this great master; among them is
the one called "Ma