Home | Nuper Rosarum Flores | Tomas Luis de Victoria

Sources:

Lammas Records: Saints and Souls- Choirs of All Saints Church (New Hampton)
http://www.lammas.co.uk/sainsoul.htm
Benjamin Nicholas
January 2000
îƒ²í±­mas Records

Tomá³ Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) began his musical education as a chorister at Avila Cathedral, Spain. Once his voice had broken he was sent to college in Rome and following work as a singer and an organist he became a Priest. His career in Rome brought him into contact with Palestrina and the innumerable singers and composers from all over Europe who were active in the chapels and churches there. Victoria's output is smaller than some of his contemporaries (Palestrina published five times as much music), and he did not publish any secular music; his work does, however, embody the best of the Spanish character in music. Although Victoria is perhaps best known for his poignant and intense setting of the Officium defunctorum and the motets O vos omnes and Versa est in luctum, the masses and the motets on which they are based do reveal his generally cheerful disposition. His motet O quam gloriosum ('O how glorious is the Kingdom') is one such example.

Joti Rockwell
4-3-97
Music 250
http://www.haverford.edu/musc/multimedia/renaissance/Rockwell/jVictoria.html

Tomá³ Luis de Victoria is certainly not the most well-known of late Renaissance composers; he did not produce as much music and did not show as varied a style as some of his contemporaries. Still, as Bruno Turner states, "...in its narrow specialisation in strictly liturgical or devotional function, Victoria's music is not only the most perfectly fit for its purpose, but the most perfectly styled and fashioned of its kind..." [Turner a) p.2]. Victoria's style is well-characterized by one of his most common compositional types- the parody mass. Presented here is a discussion of how Victoria composed his parody mass "O Quam Gloriosum", with special consideration given to the following questions: What were the conventions of mass writing leading up to Victoria's time and how does Victoria's style exemplify these conventions? How do Victoria and his music agree with Counter Reformation thought? What are the musical similarities and differences between the original motet material and the material in the Mass? In his article, "A View of the Early Sixteenth-Century Parody Mass", Lewis Lockwood discusses the stylistic changes that occurred in parody masses between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.The motet tended to replace the chanson as the basis for a mass; there were many consequences of this change. Since as a compositional form the motet is more closely related to the mass than the chanson, Lockwood argues, the parody mass and its motet can be combined to serve a practical function. He gives some evidence to suggest that parody masses and motets were sometimes performed together and argues that in general there is a greater degree of unity between mass and motet than between mass and chanson. Another general difference between 15th century and 16th century parody procedure is that more attention seemed to be given to text: "...not only the musical substance of the model but its text as well is seen to exert an influence on the parody procedure." Lastly, Lockwood makes the case that imitative writing in motets by necessity translates into imitative writing in masses; the borrowing of entire individual lines such as in chanson or plainchant-based masses is not as common with later parody procedure [Lockwood pp. 53-75]. Later in the sixteenth century, the compositional process for many Catholic composers was influenced by the ideology of the Council of Trent and the Counter Reformation. In an attempt to purify Catholic music, the Council of Trent issued a decree on church music in 1562:

"All things should indeed be so ordered that the Masses ... may reach tranquilly into the ears and hearts of those who hear them, when everything is executed clearly
and at the right speed ... let nothing profane be intermingled, but only hymns and divine praises. The whole plan of singing in musical modes should be constituted ... in
such a way that the words may be clearly understood by all ... They shall also banish from church all music that contains, whether in the singing or in the organ
playing, things that are lascivious or impure." [Weiss p.137]

The clergy of the Counter Reformation preferred a musical style that was not overly virtuosic or ornamented; they wanted to be able to hear sacred texts clearly. A consequence of their thought for parody procedure was that masses should not be based on "profane" motets. More suggestions specific to composing parody masses were given by Padre Pietro Cerone in his compendium El Melopeo y maestro , written in 1613:

- "It is necessary and obligatory that the musical theme at the beginnings of the first Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei should be one and
the same.

- In the course of the Mass, the more use one makes (whether with or without imitation) of motives from the middle or inside of the composition upon which the
Mass is written, the better and the more praiseworthy the work will be.

- The Gloria and Credo are composed as continuous movements, without embellishment and with less imitation among the parts, using melodic ideas that are short,
clear, familiar, and closely woven, unlike those of the Kyries, the Sanctuses, and the Agnus Dei's, which should be long, elaborate, less familiar, and less closely
woven.

-It may be seen that good composers have taken care to make the parts sing all together, using only slow notes and with devout consonances and harmonious
intervals, upon the words "Jesu Christe." This is done because of the reverence and decorum due to their meanings. The same is usually observed upon the words "Et
incarnatus est" to "Crucifixus". To write points of imitation and lively passages here is a very great error and a sign of great ignorance." [Weiss pp. 132-133]

It can be seen with Cerone's writing that some of the characteristics of the parody mass which Lockwood discusses had been thoroughly incorporated into the practice of the late sixteenth century. Cerone's specific descriptions of the ways in which words relating to the life of Christ should be treated musically illustrates the added attention given to text. Also, Cerone's reference to the borrowing of musical material for "points of imitation" supports Lockwood's suggestion that motivic writing became more common than the inclusion of entire melodic lines.

Victoria's parody mass "O Quam Gloriosum", published in 1583, is in general accord with the historical context presented in this study. The similarity of the mass and motet texts and the way in which the motet is incorporated into the mass give the two pieces a unity that likely would not have existed had Victoria used a chanson. Victoria pays close attention to text setting in the Mass. Also, he does not borrow melodies from the motet as "self-contained linear totalities" [Lockwood p. 61]; rather, he adapts the borrowed material to suit the imitative style used in the mass. Lastly, although he does not follow every rule presented by Cerone, Victoria illustrates a style that is generally in harmony with the attitudes of late sixteenth century Catholicism.

The most direct thematic connections between Victoria's motet and Mass as given by Thomas Rive are:

example 1:
a) motet m. 10-18
b) Kyrie m. 1-9
c) Credo m. 137-146
d) Agnus Dei m. 7-16

example 2:
a) motet m. 17-20
b) Gloria m. 87-89
c) Credo m. 145-147

example 3:
a) motet m. 36-45
b)Kyrie m. 23-34
c)Gloria m. 69-77
d)Credo m. 37-47
e) Agnus Dei m. 18-27

example 4:
a) motet m. 46-56
b)Kyrie m. 12-22
c)Gloria m. 35-44
d)Credo m. 92-99

[Victoria p.VI]

With example 1 we see the first theme of the motet that is directly referenced in the mass. Perhaps the reason that the beginning of the motet does not appear in the mass is as Bruno Turner suggests: "Victoria, it seems, omitted this from the material for the mass because it was suitable only for quotation, not development." [Turner b) p.2] It is clear with this example that Victoria did not seek to take melodic material from the motet to use it strictly; he adapts it to suit the contrapuntal and textual nature of the Mass. A good example of contrapuntal and textural adaptation is 1.d, where Victoria gives added movement on the word "mundi". Although he begins the Kyrie with the C-F-G-A theme of the motet, Victoria does not begin every movement of the mass with this motive, as Cerone suggests. Example 2 shows a rising G-mixolydian scale in the motet which is borrowed for the Gloria and Credo sections of the Mass. Here we see an obvious but important similarity between motet and Mass- the mode is generally maintained. It is also clear from this example that in some ways Victoria was more concerned with variety between motet and Mass than variety between corresponding sections of the Mass; the endings of the Gloria and Credo sections are virtually the same. This is in basic agreement with Cerone's discussion of treatment of Gloria and Credo sections; since Victoria uses this short section of material to end both movements, it is "familiar and closely woven", as Cerone suggested. Example 3 illustrates how a descending G-mixolydian scale translates from motet to mass. We can observe a careful treatment of text in the Credo section (ex. 3.d) In order to have a melisma on "salutem" (salvation), Victoria breaks up the half-note rhythm of the motive. By doing this, he not only adapts the musical material to fit the text of the mass but he also maintains a similar textual treatment to that of the motet. One can also observe in the Credo section the use of the descending scale on the word "descendit"; the motive here is concise as suggested by Cerone. Cerone certainly would have liked the repeated use of this passage from the motet, since he said that works are more "praiseworthy" if they make frequent use of motives from the inside of the parent motet.
Example 4 illustrates a use of mode that distinguishes Victoria from some of his contemporaries. His use of the mixolydian mode in conjunction with the ionian can be seen in both the Mass and its parent motet. The use of F# and F natural (or C# and C natural) in the same measure creates a modal distinction between rising and falling melodic lines. This is analogous to the chromatic nature of the current melodic minor scale. It is important to note that this chromatic peculiarity in the Mass does not obscure important text- in the Kyrie , for example, Victoria has a descending third for "Christe" and does not introduce the bimodal figure until a melisma on "eleison". Although Cerone might have had some objection to Victoria's use of "Christe" in imitative writing, he certainly would have acknowledged Victoria's appreciation of the text.
Example 5 is an excellent illustration of how Victoria treats sacred words. As Cerone states, the words "Et incarnatus est" to "crucifixus" should generally be given consonant and homorhythmic treatment. This is exactly what Victoria does in measures 50-62 of the Credo. In what Bruno Turner calls a "magical moment of reverent simplicity," Victoria changes to a triple meter (perhaps representing the trinity) and declares the text consonantly and clearly. Victoria's "O Quam Gloriosum" shows how Victoria generally shared the sentiment of the Council of Trent with regards to composition. Like all of his other masses (and all of his other works), it is set to a sacred Latin text, so there is nothing "lascivious or impure" as there might be with a parody mass based on a secular piece. Victoria is careful and deliberate with his setting of the sacred text; the only objection the Council of Trent might have had to his style would have concerned the occasional confusion of text that results from imitative writing. In his preface to the book of masses that contained "O Quam Gloriosum", Victoria said, "...for what should music serve rather than the holy praise of the immortal God from whom number and measure proceed, whose works are wonderfully ordered by a kind of harmony and consonance?" With this statement one can clearly see that Victoria was in fairly good agreement with Counter Reformation thought. Victoria's style of mass writing is advanced but controlled; he combines a sophisticated knowledge of vocal counterpoint with a profound respect for the sacredness of the work. Some general characteristics of Victoria's parody procedure can be summarized as follows: by his frequent borrowing of musical material from the motet and his restriction to only sacred texts, Victoria creates a unity between his mass and its parent motet. Second, he gives careful attention to text; the textual treatment in the motet influences but does not govern that of the mass. Third, musical material is generally borrowed from the motet more for adaptation than for literal use; Victoria is more inclined to use a motive from the motet than an entire individual line. Lastly, Victoria's style of text setting shows reverence and praise to God, which is exactly what the proponents of the Counter Reformation wanted in the composition of masses. When considering the historical context surrounding Victoria's time, one can conclude that "O Quam Gloriosum" is an excellent example of late Renaissance parody procedure.

References:
1. Turner, Bruno. Victoria: Ave Maris Stella/ O Quam Gloriosum. cd liner notes. Hyperion Records, London, 1985.
2. Lockwood, Lewis. "A View of the Early Sixteenth-Century Parody Mass", Twenty-fifth Anniversary Festschrift. Queens College Press, New York, N.Y., 1962.
3. Weiss, Piero and Taruskin, Richard. Music in the Western World. Simon and Schuster Macmillan, New York, N.Y., 1984.
4. Victoria, Tomá³ Lues de. Motet and Mass, O quam gloriosum est regnum. ed. Thomas Rive. Ernst Eulenberg Inc, New York, N.Y., 1978.