Morales: Missa Queramus cum pastoribus & Other Sacred Music

Featuring

James O'Donnell
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Cristóbal de Morales
Jean Mouton

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Composition History

Morales's motet O sacrum convivium, likely from his Roman period, served as a model for Palestrina's Missa O sacrum convivium, indicating its unusual polyphony was admired by other distinguished composers.

Compositional Technique

Morales's Missa Queramus cum pastoribus is scored for five voices with divided basses, an unusual choice that allowed him to explore rich, dense textures not present in Mouton's original four-part motet.

Compositional Technique

Morales's Mass transforms Mouton's concise motet into expansive music, with almost every moment of the Mass based on the motet, but rarely through straightforward quotation.

Composer Biography

Cristóbal de Morales, born around 1500 in Seville, spent most of his life serving Spanish cathedrals, but also worked in Rome as a singer in the papal choir.

Composition History

Morales based his Missa Queramus cum pastoribus on a popular Christmastide motet by French composer Jean Mouton, which was sung by the papal choir.

Compositional Technique

Morales's metamorphoses of Mouton's motet are so ingenious and obscure that they may be missed by a casual listener, revealing more with repeated hearings.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Morales's music has a cosmopolitan quality, transcending nationality, unlike his compatriot Tomás Luis de Victoria, whose music is considered quintessentially Spanish.