The greatest composer of the late Renaissance, Orlando di Lasso became nobility awarded to him by Emperor Maximillian II. In 1575, Lasso appointed Giovanni Gabrieli as his assistant. An enormously prolific composer, Lasso played a major role in every style and genre of the period, his compositions totaling more than 2000 creations: madrigals, lieder, chansons, Latin motets, passions, masses and magnificats.