TOMAS LUIS DE VICTORIA

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Tomás Luis de Victoria, sometimes Italianised da Vittoria (1548 – 20 August 1611), was a Spanish composer of the late Renaissance. "The Spanish Palestrina", as he is known, was the most famous composer of the 16th century in Spain, and one of the most important composers of the Counter-Reformation, along with Giovanni da Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso.

Victoria was born in Ávila, likely studying with Escobedo at Segovia early in his life. He is known to have gone to Rome around 1564, where he joined the monastery founded by St. Ignatius Loyola as part of the fight against Lutheranism. He may have studied with Palestrina around this time, though the evidence is circumstantial; certainly he was influenced by the Italian's style. In 1575 he was ordained as a priest, after a period of service at the monastery as maestro di cappella. He did not stay in Italy, however; in 1586 he returned to Spain, this time in the service of the Dowager Empress Maria, who was entering the convent of Descalzas Reales in Madrid. Victoria remained at the convent until the end of his life, performing several roles—priest, composer, director of the choir, and organist. His death certificate can be found in the church of San Ginés in Madrid.

Victoria is the most significant composer of the Counter-Reformation in Spain, and one of the best-regarded composers of sacred music in the late Renaissance, a genre to which he devoted himself exclusively. His works have undergone a revival in the 20th century, with numerous recent recordings. Many commentators hear in his music a mystical intensity and direct emotional appeal, qualities considered by some to be lacking in the arguably more rhythmically and harmonically placid music of Palestrina.

Stylistically his music shuns the elaborate counterpoint of many of his contemporaries, preferring simple line and homophonic textures, yet seeking rhythmic variety and sometimes including intense and surprising contrasts. His melodic writing and use of dissonance is more free than that of Palestrina; occasionally he uses intervals which are prohibited in the strict application of 16th century counterpoint, such as ascending major sixths, or even occasional diminished fourths (for example, a melodic diminished fourth occurs in a passage representing grief in his motet Sancta Maria, succurre). Victoria sometimes uses dramatic word-painting, of a kind usually found only in madrigals. Some of his sacred music uses instruments (a practice which is not uncommon in Spanish sacred music of the 16th century), and he also wrote polychoral works for more than one spatially separated group of singers, in the style of the composers of the Venetian school who were working at St. Mark's in Venice.

Published in 1605 under the title Officium Defunctorum, sex vocibus, in obitu et obsequiis sacrae imperatricis, one of his finest, most beautiful, and most refined works is the great Requiem Mass he wrote in 1603 for the funeral of Empress Maria, who had been his employer since 1586, and who was the sister of Philip II and wife of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor. Also notable is the serene emotion of every one of the 37 pieces that form his Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae of 1585, a collection of motets and lamentations linked to the Holy Week Catholic celebrations.

His Missa pro victoria ("Victory Mass") was dedicated to Philip III of Spain.

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Tomás Luis de Victoria (Avila vers 1548, Madrid le 27 août 1611) est un compositeur de musique sacrée espagnol.

Sa vie est encore bien mal connue. Enfant, il était enfant de chœur à la cathédrale d'Avila et aurait fréquenté Thérèse d'Avila. Entre 1565 et 1569 il étudia la théologie chez les Jésuites, en vue du sacerdoce, au Collegium Germanicum de Rome. Il commença l'étude de la musique probablement avant d'arriver à Rome car publia son premier recueil important en 1572. Il fut ordonné prêtre en 1575, en hâte semble-t-il. Il était alors déjà maître de chapelle (1573-1578). Il avait aussi succédé à Palestrina au Séminaire romain (1571-1572). À l'aise avec l'argent, il finança lui-même une édition luxueuse de ses œuvres, qu'il diffusa à ses frais en Espagne et jusqu'en Amérique. Il entra chez les Oratoriens de la congrégation de Philippe Néri, ce qui lui permettait une indépendance financière. Il retourne en Espagne en 1596 et est nommé chapelain personnel de l'impératrice Marie, sœur de Philippe II, et organiste du couvent des Descalzas Reales de Madrid, où s'était retirée sa protectrice. Durant cette partie de sa vie, tandis que ses œuvres étaient régulièrement ré-éditées en Europe, il refusa les postes de maître de chapelle des cathédrales de Séville ou Saragosse ; ces refus furent interprétés comme le désir d'une retraite mystique consacrée à la musique et à la contemplation. Il mourut à Madrid le 27 août 1611.