Tomás Luis de Victoria
The dominating figure of sixteenth century Spanish music, Tomás Luis de Victoria was born in Avila. He was sent to Rome to study, possibly for a time under Palestrina during the latter's years at the Roman Seminary. In 1571 he succeeded Palestrina there as choirmaster, a post he also subsequently occupied at the Jesuit Order's German College. Later he became active as a priest, working at St. Girolamo della Carità. Following his return to Spain in 1585, Victoria served the Empress Maria and her daughter as teacher, organist, and choirmaster until his death in 1611.
By the time Victoria arrived in Rome, the conservative ecclesiastical establishment and the Council of Trent had ensured that any musical hint of the "lascivious or the impure" was largely banished (Palestrina was even moved to dismiss his publication of secular madrigals as a youthful peccadillo). It is therefore not surprising to find that Victoria's output consists solely of religious music that eschews even the use of secular cantus firmus, and that displays the formal perfection and the well-smoothed vocal writing of the Palestrina style. What is surprising is that despite his Roman training and years of service in the city, Victoria so strongly retained his Spanish roots. Some of his finest works were composed after his return home, and many of them contain features that seem to epitomize the deeply mystical approach of so much Spanish Renaissance music. Comparison with Palestrina reveals a greater emphasis on chromatic color and use of dynamic contrast; Victoria's block harmonies and multiple choirs look forward to the Baroque. His response to words is acute and highly personal, a characteristic particularly suited to the comparatively dynamic and plastic form of the motet and to other texts which allow full rein to subjective treatment. Of Victoria's 44 motets, the early four-part O quam gloriosum can perhaps be allowed a special mention, since it is pervaded by a youthful vigor and joyous radiance that gives lie to the understandable impression that Spanish Renaissance composers were preoccupied with somber religious subjects. His widely performed Christmas motet, O magnum mysterium, exudes a quiet sense of wonder. Victoria's fame as a motet composer has tended to overshadow his masses, yet at their finest, as in the lovely Missa Ave maris stella, they are not inferior to those of Palestrina.
To discover Victoria at his greatest, however, one must ultimately return to the darker side, and in particular to the two works by which he is best known, the Tenebrae Responsories (first published in 1585) and the Requiem of 1605, a work of timeless serenity. The former is a setting of 18 pieces that adhere to the traditional form of the responsory, with its alternation of verse and refrain. The work takes us through the Passion story in music that relies not so much on the drama of the events themselves as on a quite extraordinarily direct and profound response to the text, a response frequently achieved by means of the greatest simplicity, or, perhaps more accurately, apparent simplicity.
© TiVo
-
Victoria: Requiem
Classical - Released by Deux-Elles Limited on 7/03/2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Anima: Victoria, Gesualdo and Ruiz del Corral Reworked for String Orchestra
Varanus Ensemble, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Carlo Gesualdo, Manuel Ruiz Del Corral
Classical - Released by Novus Promusica on 7/05/2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tomás Luis de Victoria: Missa Gaudeamus
Musica Ficta, Raúl Mallavibarrena
Classical - Released by Audiovisuals de Sarrià, SL. on 26/02/2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Guillaume de Machaut: Messe de Nostre Dame
Vienna Vocal Consort, Jacobus Gallus, Guillaume de Machaut, Pierre de La Rue, Palestrina, Tomás Luis de Victoria
Classical - Released by Rondeau Production on 25/08/2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Love Of My Soul
Classical - Released by Albany Records on 1/01/2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-
Libera
Pop - Released by Hurricane Music Production on 30/09/2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-
-
-
-
In secondo piano
FusØrario, Tomás Luis de Victoria
Pop - Released by Future Boy House on 8/11/2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Se É pra Chorar... Chore Viu!
Forro - Released by Mbass on 15/06/2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Canta Tomás Campos
Miscellaneous - Released by EDL on 20/12/1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-