Tomás Luis de Victoria (b. 1548, Ávila, Spain; d. 1611, Madrid)

Victoria is considered the greatest Spanish composer of the late Renaissance. He described his compositional intent thus: “for what should music serve rather than the holy praise of the immortal God from whom number and measure proceed?”

As a youth, Victoria learned music as a chorister at the Cathedral of Ávila. He was so promising that at age seventeen he was sent to Rome to study at the Jesuit’s Collegium Germanicum. His musical career in Rome brought him in contact with Palestrina and numerous other great European musicians. In spite of his success in Rome, he yearned to return to Spain. In 1585 he was offered a position at the Royal Convent of the Barefoot Nuns of St. Claire in Madrid, where he lived the remainder of his life.

Victoria’s music—which was exclusively sacred— was popular during his lifetime, and his fame spread to the New World. Volumes of hymns, masses, Magnificat settings, psalms, motets, and two Passions were published in Rome. He also wrote works for antiphonal choruses with organ. His last known work is a Requiem for the funeral service of Empress Maria of Austria, written in 1603.