Ave Jesu Christe alta stirps

Orlando di Lasso’s Ave Jesu Christe alta stirps is a four-part motet for ATTB voices, sung in Latin. The composer’s writing here is characterized by its rich, sonorous texture and the intimate dialogue between the lower four voice parts. The text, a devotional address to Jesus Christ, opens with a series of invocations. Christ is hailed as a noble descendant, a pure son, a deep violet of humility, and a wide rose of charity. Further lines praise him as an abyssal fount of grace and mercy, and as the dew of heaven, bearing the fruit of divine sweetness and devotion, all summed up with a solemn Amen.