Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 – 1611) was the most
famous composer in 16th-century Spain, and was one of
the most important composers of the
Counter-Reformation, along with Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso. Victoria was not only
a composer, but also an accomplished organist and
singer as well as a Catholic priest. However, he
preferred the life of a composer to that of a
performer.
Victoria was born in Sanchidrián in the province of
Ávila, Castile around 1548 an...(+)
Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 – 1611) was the most
famous composer in 16th-century Spain, and was one of
the most important composers of the
Counter-Reformation, along with Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso. Victoria was not only
a composer, but also an accomplished organist and
singer as well as a Catholic priest. However, he
preferred the life of a composer to that of a
performer.
Victoria was born in Sanchidrián in the province of
Ávila, Castile around 1548 and died in 1611.
Victoria's family can be traced back for generations.
Not only are the names of the members in his immediate
family known, but even the occupation of his
grandfather. Victoria was the seventh of nine children
born to Francisco Luis de Victoria and Francisca
Suárez de la Concha. His mother was of converso
descent. After his father's death in 1557, his uncle,
Juan Luis, became his guardian. He was a choirboy in
Ávila Cathedral. Cathedral records state that his
uncle, Juan Luis, presented Victoria's Liber Primus to
the Church while reminding them that Victoria had been
brought up in the Ávila Cathedral. Because he was such
an accomplished organist, many believe that he began
studying the keyboard at an early age from a teacher in
Ávila. Victoria most likely began studying "the
classics" at St. Giles's, a boys' school in Ávila.
This school was praised by St.Teresa of Avila and other
highly regarded people of music.
He was a master at overlapping and dividing choirs with
multiple parts with a gradual decreasing of rhythmic
distance throughout. Not only does Victoria incorporate
intricate parts for the voices, but the organ is almost
treated like a soloist in many of his choral pieces.
Victoria did not begin the development of psalm
settings or antiphons for two choirs, but he continued
and increased the popularity of such repertoire.
Victoria reissued works that had been published
previously, and included new revisions in each new
issue.
Tomas Luis de Victoria's first book of Masses,
published in Rome in 1576, includes three Parody Masses
(or Imitation Masses). These three settings are based
on motets by Francisco Guerrero (Simile est regnum
coelorum), Cristobal de Morales (Gaudeamus), and
himself (Dum complerentur). All three of these Masses,
published while the twenty-eight-year-old Spaniard was
teaching at his Alma Mater, the Jesuit Collegio
Germanic, display both the strength of his own
personality, and the influence of Palestrina. The
general musical language is that of classical "Roman
School" polyphony, but specific moments of drama
contain more abrupt melodic gestures than would be
found in the music of Palestrina. The style of his
treatment of his model, likewise, displays both the
techniques of common practice, and the stamp of
individuality.
The standard Sixteenth-century practice of "Parody" in
a Mass setting requires each major section of the piece
to begin with a recognizable musical allusion to the
model composition, and conclude with closing material
from it as well. In the Dum complerentur Mass, Victoria
acknowledges such conventions, but also demonstrates an
easy facility with the handling of his own music. The
model composition is his own motet, its text suitable
for the Feast of Pentecost. To the motet's original
five voices, Victoria adds a sixth in this Mass.
As convention would have it, several movements (Kylie
I, Gloria, Sanctus, and Benedictus) all approximate the
opening of his motet, and the Credo opens with material
from the motet's second part. But each movement opens
not with a classical Point of Imitation, but rather
with a clever reworking of several elements of the
contrapuntal texture. In general, the order of voices
is shuffled, and the most important motivic material
throughout the Mass stems from a pair of subsidiary
motives from the model, countermelodies to the motet
opening. What appears to be the principal motive of the
model actually opens only the Benedictus. The opening
of Sanctus, heard twice in long tones drifting above
the other voices' foundation, just suggests this head
motive. Agnus Dei I and II return to Victoria's
favorite subsidiary motives, with the novelty of
setting paraphrases of both simultaneously. Already
this early in his career, Victoria evidences a
tightness of detail concurrent with a developing
freedom of formal structure, both of which combine in a
piece of fervent individuality.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%C3%A1s_Luis_de_Victo
ria ).
Although originally created for five (6) voices
(SSAATB), I created this Interpretation of the "Missa
Gaudeamus" (Joyful Celebration) for Wind Sextet (Flute,
Oboe, Bb Clarinet, English Horn, French Horn &
Bassoon).