Tomás Luis de Victoria
Tomás Luis de Victoria wrote almost exclusively sacred polyphonic music to Latin texts: motets, Marian antiphons and Holy Week offices whose intensity and direct emotional line set him among the principal voices of the late Renaissance.
His surviving work is liturgical rather than secular. He often prefers clear lines and homophonic textures to elaborate counterpoint, yet seeks rhythmic variety and sharp contrasts, with freer dissonance and occasional dramatic word-painting. Polychoral writing and an almost soloistic organ part appear in some pieces. On these recordings choirs turn to Christmas and Marian settings such as O magnum mysterium, Quem vidistis, pastores? and the Salve Regina: music of Spanish mystical fervour shaped for Catholic rite. The Officium Defunctorum, his Requiem for the Empress María, stands as the large-scale summit of that sacred output.
Compositions by Tomás Luis de Victoria appear on
Christmas to Candlemas
Ensemble Gombert is one of Australia’s finest choral groups. Directed by John O’Donnell – organist, harpsichordist and highly respected academic – the ensemble is known for historically informed performances of Renaissance and later choral repertoire.