This album was recorded in November 1995 at Saint Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead, UK, with Philip Hobbs as the recording engineer and Ben Turner as the producer.
Composition History
Victoria composed his second setting of the Office for the Dead for the funeral rites of Dowager Empress Maria, sister of King Philip II of Spain, in 1603.
Composition History
Victoria's second setting of the Office for the Dead, published in 1605, was his last published work and is his most renowned.
Composer Biography
Tomás Luis de Victoria (c.1548-1611) was a Spanish priest who remained a churchman his entire life, and all his surviving music is sacred.
Compositional Technique
The Mass setting in Victoria's Office for the Dead is highly contrapuntal, featuring a six-part texture with plainchant used as a cantus firmus throughout.
Interpretation
On this recording, plainsong passages are sung in more measured note-values, aligning with contemporary practice rather than the free time often used today, to match the polyphony's rhythm and mood.
Album & Artwork
The original cover image for this album is Hieronymus Bosch's 'I Beati e i Dannata' from Palazzo Ducale, Venice.
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