Sebastián de Vivanco: Missa pro Defunctis & Motets

Featuring

David Allinson
The Renaissance Singers
Cristóbal de Morales
Sebastián De Vivanco
Bernardino de Ribera
Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla

Melchor Robledo

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Composition History

Vivanco's Missa pro defunctis, or Requiem, was partially preserved in two 17th-century manuscripts, adapted to institutional needs decades after his death.

Composer Biography

Vivanco's most significant career move was to Salamanca in 1602, where he occupied a prestigious post as professor of music at the university for twenty years.

Composer Biography

Sebastián de Vivanco, a Spanish composer, spent his entire successful career in his native land, serving in major cathedral establishments.

Recording & Production

This recording aims to create a sensation of intimacy for the listener, as if enfolded in a collective act of witness, by having the choir stand close together in a semicircle.

Compositional Technique

Vivanco's Requiem features deep counterpoint and strikingly piquant harmonic colors, making it more volatile than contemporary polyphonic Requiem settings.

Performer Biography

The Renaissance Singers, a specialist amateur chamber choir based in London, celebrated its 80th anniversary in summer 2024 and was founded to revive interest in Renaissance sacred polyphony.