Tomás Luis de Victoria’s 'Officium Defunctorum', a masterpiece from the Spanish musical Renaissance

Описание: For the first time in recording history, the complete version of Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Officium Defunctorum (Office of the Dead), a masterpiece from the Spanish musical Renaissance, has been restored. Stemming from extensive research developed by Albert Recasens at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra, the recording was released with the sponsorship of the Center for Hispanic Europe Studies and with support from Madrid’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Recasens undertook this recording project with his sacred music ensemble La Grande Chapelle, in collaboration with the Schola Antiqua de Madrid, a group specialized in Gregorian chant and directed by Juan Carlos Asensio, himself a renowned expert in Gregorian chant.

The album was presented during a virtual event. In addition to Albert Recasens, the following speakers participated: Tess Knighton, an ICREA Professor within the Department of Art and Musicology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and emeritus member of Clare College (Cambridge University); Owen Rees, Professor of Music at the University of Oxford and author of The Requiem of Tomás Luis de Victoria (2019); Daniele V. Filippi, researcher at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland and author of Tomás Luis de Victoria (2008); and Juan Carlos Asensio, Professor at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya and director of Schola Antiqua.

Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) composed the Officium Defunctorum “in the style of a swansong” for the funeral rites of the composer’s patroness, the empress Maria of Austria, sister of Philip II and widow of the emperor Maximilian II. Her funeral, which took place in 1603 at the Convent of las Descalzas Reales and at the Imperial College (now San Isidro church) in Madrid, constituted an important state act.