Domenico Lauro

Domenico Lauro, also cited as Laurus, was an Italian composer and priest born in Padua around 1540. The date and place of his death are not entirely clear: he is placed in Mantua after 1607. His output belongs to the Venetian sphere, and he should be distinguished from other sixteenth-century Paduan musicians who shared his surname, a confusion that has arisen in the sources.

According to the most widely accepted hypotheses, he may have trained with Francesco Stivori, since Stivori included four of Lauro's madrigals in his first two books, and the two collaborated on a volume of madrigals for three voices. Around 1598 he seems to have held the post of maestro di cappella at Mantua Cathedral. A claim by Sartori, placing him at Padua Cathedral at that same date, finds no support in the records of the Paduan chapel and is therefore considered unreliable.

His surviving works include three masses, a motet and fourteen madrigals. The motet Hodie Christus, attributed to Laurus, must be earlier, since the manuscript dates from around 1530, so it cannot be his. His masses, scored for voices, instruments and organ, already employ the fully developed concertato style, which places Lauro among the composers who brought that practice into the religious music of his time.