Victoria, Tomás Luis de

Victoria, Tomás Luis de (tōmäs` lēs` dā vēktō`ryä), c.1548–1611, Spanish composer. He went to Rome in 1565 to study for the priesthood at the German Jesuit College. In 1571 he became music master of the Collegium Romanum, succeeding Palestrina, who may have been his teacher. Mutual influence is evident in their works. In 1578, Victoria gave up the position he had held since 1573 as music master at the Collegium Germanicum to become a resident priest at the Church of San Girolamo. All of Victoria's known compositions are religious. His first book of motets (1572) contains the well-known O quam gloriosum and O vos omnes. He also composed masses, canticles, settings of all the hymns for the church year (1581), and two settings of the biblical accounts of the Passion. His polyphonic technique, equal to any in the Renaissance, expresses a passionate mysticism that is essentially Spanish. In 1587 he returned to Spain to be chaplain and choirmaster to Empress Mary (wife of Emperor Maximilian II), in whose memory he composed his last and greatest work, Officium defunctorum (pub. 1605).

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Victoria, Tomás Luis de

(born c. 1548, near Avila, Spain—died Aug. 27, 1611, Madrid) Spanish composer. He went to Rome c. 1565 as an organist and singer, and he may have studied with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, eventually becoming kapellmeister for a Jesuit congregation (1573–77). Ordained a priest (1575), he was associated with St. Philip Neri's group (1578–85). During this time he published his books of motets, masses, Magnificats, and hymns. In 1587 he returned to Spain as chaplain to the dowager empress Maria, in whose convent he served as organist and choirmaster until his death. He wrote 21 masses (including a Pope Marcellus Mass), several Magnificats, and 44 motets (including O magnum mysterium). His music is mystical, impressive, and moving, and he was renowned as the greatest Spanish composer of the Renaissance.