Victoria: Missa Dum complerentur & Other Sacred Music

Featuring

Joseph Cullen
James O'Donnell
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Tomás Luis de Victoria

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Composer Biography

Victoria spent twenty years in Rome, where he succeeded Palestrina, a major Renaissance composer, as Maestro di Cappella at the Roman Seminary in 1571.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Victoria's musical output was relatively small compared to other major Renaissance composers like Palestrina and Lassus, and he published no secular music.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Victoria adopted a highly critical attitude to his own compositions, constantly revising successive editions and commenting on his work in prefaces.

Compositional Technique

Victoria's Missa Dum complerentur is a six-part parody Mass based on his earlier five-part motet of the same title, incorporating and elaborating on its themes.

Historical Context

After the Council of Trent (1545-1563) abolished most sequences, only five were retained in the liturgy, including 'Veni Sancte Spiritus' and 'Lauda Sion'.

Composer Biography

Tomás Luis de Victoria, considered the greatest composer of the Spanish 16th-century 'golden age' of polyphonic music, was born in Avila in 1548.

Compositional Technique

Victoria's style, while sharing Palestrina's preference for smooth melodic lines and double counterpoint, uses more accidentals and subtle harmonic coloration, giving it a passionate intensity.