大象传媒

Donald Macleod surveys Victoria鈥檚 duties as chaplain to a retired Empress Maria and the Requiem he composed for her funeral

Tom谩s Luis de Victoria has become the most famed Spanish composer of the Renaissance and ranks alongside Palestrina and Lassus as one of the greatest composers of the 16th century. He was a singer, organist, scholar, teacher, and a priest but it was in composition that he made his most significant impact. His motets, Offices for the Dead and music for Holy Week are admired for their great beauty and intensity and his musical talent thrust him into the orbit of Spain鈥檚 royal family and the most senior clerics in Rome. His devotion to God sat at the heart of his creative life; and he wrote, 鈥渢here is not a single thing as useful as music, which, reaching our hearts soft but deeply, provides a clear benefit not only for our soul but also for our body.鈥�

Today, Donald Macleod explores the last work Victoria published, his Missa pro defunctis. This Requiem Mass is believed to have been written and performed to mark the death of his employer, the Dowager Empress Maria in 1603. Victoria returned to Spain from Italy to work as Chaplain for the Empress in the mid to late 1580s, where he greatly enhanced the cultural prestige of her household. Although Victoria was expected to undertake various priestly duties, he also served as unofficial Director of Music to the convent where the Empress was living. The post allowed him much time to compose and also to travel to oversee his various publications. When Empress Maria was taken ill, Victoria was one of the chaplains who attended her, as nuns sang psalms and recited prayers. After her death, Victoria was charged with organising music for the numerous services of mourning which took place. His Requiem stands as one of the pinnacles of his musical achievements.

O magnum mysterium
Grex Vocalis
Carl H酶gset, director

Ave Maria
Ma卯trise Nationale de Versailles
Choir of New College Oxford
Edward Higginbottom, director

Missa pro defunctis (Taedet animan meam)
Gabrieli Consort
Paul McCreesh, director

Missa pro defunctis (excerpt)
Gabrieli Consort
Paul McCreesh, director

Missa pro defunctis (excerpt)
Gabrieli Consort
Paul McCreesh, director

Magnificat octavi toni
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers, director

Produced by Luke Whitlock