Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) was the greatest Spanish composer of the Renaissance and, arguably, the finest European composer of his generation. This stature is remarkable considering the small size of his output. Palestrina published 5 times as much music and Lassus even more than that. His compatriots, CristÑbal de Morales and Francisco Guerrero, both out-published him as well.

Unlike these others, Victoria composed no secular music known to us today and set only Latin texts. He was critical of the music he did write, as evidenced by his countless revisions as well as his own comments. Hence the small number of works and the consistent quality of inspiration and craftsmanship that they demonstrate.

Born the seventh of eleven children, in Avila, Spain, Victoria received his early musical training as a choirboy at the cathedral there. After his voice changed he was sent to prepare for the priesthood in Rome. There he continued his musical training and was befrirended by Palestrina, two of whose sons were about Victoria's age and studied wtih Victoria.

Victoria was the first Iberian composer to master Palestrina's style with its smooth symmetrical melodies and carefully-worked double counterpoint. Victoria departs from Palestrina, however, in his subtle harmonic shifts, extensive use of accidentals, and rhythmic intensity.

In the twenty years that he spent in Rome, Victoria held many significant positions. Upon graduating from the Collegium germanicum, he became choirmaster at the important church of Sta. Maria di Montserrato in Rome. He succeeded Palestrina as music master in the Roman seminary and shortly after that he became maestro at the Collegium germanicum.

During his final decade in Rome, Victoria published five volumes of music including a collection of hymns, one of magnificats and masses, his Office for Holy Week and an anthology of motets. The early motets are well known for their passionate intensity. The Office for Holy Week represents Victoria's other side with its plaintive austerity and a more spiritual intensity that leave no room for passion. The collection of hymns provided polyphonic settings of even numbered verses which were to be sung in alternatum with the traditional plainsong (chant) melodies.

In 1583, Victoria dedicated a volume of masses to Phillip II and expressed his desire to return to the country of his birth to lead the quiet life as a priest. The king honored Victoria's request and appointed him chaplain to his sister, Dowager Empress Maria, who lived at the Royal Convent in Madrid.

With the convent's thirty-three strictly cloistered nuns, the empress heard mass daily in an exquisite chapel where Victoria served as organist and maestro to a fine choir. The twelve priests in the choir were required to be accomplished singers, and the four choirboys received daily musical training.

Victoria flourished in this fertile environment, and the convent's musical reputation soon exceeded that of Madrid's nearby cathedral. Masses at the little chapel attracted nobility from far and wide.

Nine years later, Victoria published a second book of Masses, which he dedicated to Maria's son, Alberto. Then in 1600, after another eight years, he produced a volume of polychoral masses, magnificats, and sequences, a collection significant for its use of organ accompaniment. With their homophonic textures, shifting meters, and dancing lilt, the sequences resemble the secular Spanish villancicos and stand in sharp contrast to the learned polyphony of Victoria's motets and masses.

When the Empress died in 1603, Victoria continued on as chaplain to her daughter, Princess Margaret, who was a nun at the convent. His final work, a requiem for the Empress Maria, is truly a masterpiece. Despite tempting offers from prestigious cathedrals, Victoria remained in his post at the Convent until his death at the age of 63 in 1611. He died in his room near the convent and was buried on its grounds.

His music was not so cloistered, however. Unlike Palestrina, Victoria saw the publication of nearly every one of his compositions, often in luxurious editions. These volumes traveled widely, even as far as Mexico City and Bogotá, Columbia.

Although Victoria's oeuvre is relatively small, it runs through a vast gamut of styles, emotions, and degrees of musical complexity, from concise masterpieces of brevity and simplicity to fully-developed masses in twelve parts. The motets alone range from such tragic settings as "O vos omnes," with its chains of dissonant suspensions, to the ebullient, rocketing "Ascendens Christum in altum." The devout austerity of Victoria's Tenebrae lamentations compliments the secular revelry of the sequences of 1600.

Still, all of this Spanish master's music bears his own unmistakable touch, which is a product as much of his Spanish heritage as of his formative years in Rome. This quality permeating all of Victoria's music can best be described as a mystical intensity.

back to repertoire

---

| Home | About | Youth Singer Resources | Chorale Resources | Concerts |
| Directions | FAQ | Contact |

 

Cantabile Choral Guild
953 Industrial Avenue, Suite 118, Palo Alto CA 94303
650.424.1410 info@cantabile.org