ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
PHILIPPE HERREWEGHE
Emendemus in melius | responsorium | chant
Usquequo Domine |motet a6 | Francisco Guerrero
Deus, Deus meus respice in me | tractus |chant
Domine, non sum dignus |motet a4 |Tomás Luis de Victoria
Verba mea auribus | antiphon |chant
Non mortui |motet a6 | Manuel Cardoso
Officium defunctorum, 1603 |Tomás Luis de Victoria
Collegium Vocale Gent
Philippe Herreweghe
New
As chaplain and maestro di capella to the Empress Dowager Maria, sister of Philip II, the Spanish composer Tomas Luis de Victoria (c.1548-1611) wrote a six-part requiem mass upon her death in February 1603. This masterpiece was performed two months later during a grand memorial service in St Peter and Paul’s Church in Madrid and published in 1605. The mystical intensity, extracted from the simplest musical means, makes this Officium defunctorum an absolute highlight of the music of the Spanish Golden Age.