大象传媒

Donald Macleod follows the young composer from his Spanish home in 脕vila to Rome.

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�

Victoria was born in 1548 in 脕vila, Spain. In today鈥檚 programme, Donald Macleod explores how the city and its culture may have shaped the young composer. He became a choirboy at the Cathedral of 脕vila, around the age of nine or ten, where he learned much about sacred music, its performance and composition. Victoria was then sent to Italy to prepare for holy orders, at the German College in Rome. It must have been an overwhelming experience for Victoria, arriving in the teeming metropolis of the Eternal City. He would have quickly encountered the music of Rome鈥檚 most celebrated composer, Palestrina, and it鈥檚 possible that Victoria was able to study with him, too.

O Magnum Mysterium
Carlos Mena, countertenor
Juan Carlos Rivera, lute

Vadam et circuibo civitatem a 6
Collegium Vocale Gent
Philippe Herreweghe, director

Ascendens Christus in altum
The Choir of the Queen鈥檚 College, Oxford
Owen Rees, director

Super flumina Babylonis
Les 脡l茅ments
Jo毛l Suhubiette, director

Missa O magnum mysterium
Oxford Camerata
Jeremy Summerly, director

Ave maris stella a 4
ORA Singers
Suzi Digby, director

Produced by Luke Whitlock