Ut Queant Laxis - Orlando di Lasso - Nederlands Kamerkoor

Almost everyone knows the sequence do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do. But why are those nuts called that, and where does it come from. In Orlando di Lasso’s Ut Queant Laxis we find the answer. This is the first part in our series on this subject that the Nederlands Chamber Choir recorded in 2021 with early music specialist and conductor Paul van Nevel in which we dived into the world of the so-called hexachord ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la, the predecessor of the well-known do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do on which Western music is based. Ut Queant Laxis focuses on six lines of a Gregorian hymn, which begin with the name of each note of the hexachord. Ut queant laxīs Resonāre fibrīs Mīra gestōrum Famulī tuōrum, Solve pollūtī Labiī reātum, Sāncte Iohannēs. Do let our voices resonate most purely, miracles telling, far greater than many; so let our tongues be lavish in your praises, Saint John the Baptist.[4] For even more about this and the other pieces in our series, take a look at Paul van Nevel’s online lectures: