Album insights
Tomás Luis de Victoria, the most significant Spanish composer of the 16th century, known for his work during the "golden age" of polyphonic music, was born in Ávila in 1548 and passed away in Spain in 1611. He received his musical education initially at the Cathedral of Ávila, serving as a choirboy starting around 1558. After his voice changed, he was sent to Rome to the Collegium Germanicum in 1565 as a student. Spending the next twenty years in Rome, he held various positions at significant locations such as the church of Santa Maria di Monserrato, the Collegium Germanicum, the Seminario Romano (where he succeeded Palestrina as maestro di cappella in 1571), and the church of Sant’Apollinare. Following his ordination in 1575, he became a chaplain at San Girolamo della Carità three years later.
By contrast to other Renaissance composers like Palestrina and Lassus, Victoria's musical works are relatively limited in quantity. Nevertheless, the compositions he published exhibit exceptional inspiration and musical skills. Through numerous revisions in successive editions of his works during his lifetime, along with comments in the prefaces, it is evident that he held a highly self-critical attitude towards all his compositions. Influenced by older masters of the Spanish school and his extended stay in Rome, where he likely had close contact with Palestrina, Victoria's style shares similarities with Palestrina's preference for unified, flowing melodic lines and meticulously worked double counterpoint. However, Victoria's music, despite adhering to varying conventions of musica ficta usage, incorporates more embellishments and subtle harmonic shades that set it apart from his contemporaries' works, infusing it with a passionate intensity for which he is rightfully renowned.
It is believed that Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26–1594) was born in Palestrina, near Rome, and received his initial music education in Rome at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he was listed as a choirboy in October 1537. Becoming the organist at the Cathedral of Sant’Agapito in Palestrina in 1544, he remained there until 1551 before assuming the position of magister cantorum at the Cappella Giulia at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Palestrina’s career was marked by shifts due to disputes and papal regulations, leading to his various appointments and dismissals from choirs. Notably, his manuscript sources shed light on his meticulous attention to tonal details and compositional structure, exemplified in works like the Missa De Beata Maria Virgine and the Missa Surge propera featured in this recording.
The recording includes two masses by Victoria. The first is the Missa De Beata Maria Virgine, accompanied by Victoria's setting of the Marian Antiphon Salve regina. This mass, initially published in 1576 by Angelo Gardano in Venice and later by his brother Alessandro Gardane in Rome in 1583, represents a paraphrase mass based on the ancient Gregorian Mass IX, "Cum iubilo," and Credo I. The second mass, Missa Surge propera, is a parody mass rooted in a motet by Palestrina with the same title, published in 1583 in Rome. Reflecting Victoria's keen interest in motets from the Song of Solomon, the centerpiece of his oeuvre, this mass showcases his introspective and nuanced approach to sacred music.