history’s most indecent ditties

“Matona, Mia Cara” by Orlando de Lassus (1581) Though the church kept Renaissance artists busy with religious iconography, artists certainly weren’t a bunch of prudes (check out the chiselled rig on Michelangelo’s David). Late Renaissance composer and chapel choirmaster Orlando de Lassus may have written holy music for a living, but he also loved a ditty that would delight the lads down at the pub. Snaps for a guy who contains multitudes! He penned (or is it quilled?) heaps of witty, bawdy drinking songs, including “Matona, Mia Cara”, the story of a German soldier trying to hit on someone in terribly accented Italian. It includes some