Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)

Donald Macleod surveys one of the most famed Spanish composers of the Renaissance, Tomás Luis de Victoria.

Tomás 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’s royal family and the most senior clerics in Rome. His devotion to God sat at the heart of his creative life; and he wrote, “there 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.”

Music Featured:

O magnum mysterium Ave Maria Missa pro defunctis (Taedet animan meam) Missa pro defunctis (excerpt) Missa pro defunctis (excerpt) Magnificat octavi toni O Magnum Mysterium Vadam et circuibo civitatem a 6 Ascendens Christus in altum Super flumina Babylonis Missa O magnum mysterium Ave maris stella a 4 Gaude Maria Nigra sum sed formosa Ardens Est Cor Muem Magnificat septimi toni Lamentations for Maundy Thursday Conditor alme siderum a 4 Aurea luce a 4 O Ildephonse Pange Lingua ‘more hispano’ a 4 Victimae paschali Laudes a 8 Veni, Sancte Spiritus a 8 Missa pro Victoria a 9 Missa Surge Propera a 5 (Credo) O quam gloriosum O vos omnes Missa pro defunctis (excerpt) Versa est in luctum Libera me (Absolution) Missa Salve regina a 8 Alma Redemptoris Mater

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0018862

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z