After Orlando di Lasso's death in 1594, his sons Ferdinand and Rudolph worked to preserve his legacy by publishing the large corpus of his music that remained in manuscript. This effort began with two books in which Ferdinand and Rudolph each published motets by their father along with their own compositions. Ferdinand in 1597 brought out Cantiones quinque vocum, containing twelve of his own and eleven of Orlando's motets.

Rudolph followed in 1601 with Cantiones sacrae sex vocibus, with eight...