The Tallis Choir of Toronto Online - Programme Preview: Victoria Requiem

The Abbess and the Composer

In the late 1580s, two famous expatriates decided to return to their native Spain. The Dowager Empress Maria enjoyed a fourfold honour: she was the daughter of an emperor, the wife of an emperor and the mother of two emperors! Having discharged her imperial duties, she decided in 1582 to leave Prague and retire to a convent in the new Spanish capital, Madrid. Her brother, Philip II, was delighted at her return and lavished endowments on her new home, the Royal Convent of Saint Clare of the Barefoot Nuns. The abbey was an extraordinary foundation. The nuns were expected to be devout, aristocratic and rich. As a “dowry”, a postulant traditionally brought works of art from the collections of her family. Even today, only the Prado Museum has a finer art collection in Spain.

Connections with the royal court were strong. Both the pious and the frivolous repaired there to hear the music that was sung by the most accomplished priest-musicians in the realm. On one occasion, the abbey was the scene of scandal. The suave young bucks of the court thought it great sport to ogle the nuns chanting behind their grille. During Holy Week, the Miserere was sung in darkness at the office of Tenebrae. On one occasion, a few audacious courtiers sidled up to the grille and frightened the nuns who began to scream in outrage. The king was furious and clapped the perpetrators in irons. Only their high-born connections saved them from a public flogging.

The arrival of the empress put an end to any such improprieties. A formidable lady of austere piety, she had decided opinions about the behaviour of the ruling class. Her brother often visited her to discuss political and family matters. His son, Philip III, was not so lucky. The empress disapproved of his worldly ways, and the young king actually moved his court away from Madrid to avoid a dreaded summons to his aunt's parlour where, from behind her grille, she would lecture him on his manifold failings. From a distance, he took revenge by reducing the number of musicians at the abbey; she retaliated by restoring the endowments in her will.

In 1587, the musical world was astir that Tomas Luis da Victoria had also decided to retire to Spain after a brilliant career in Rome. A bidding war ensued as cathedrals across Spain vied with each other to lure him to become their choirmaster. The king made Victoria an offer he couldn't refuse: Victoria would be personal chaplain to his imperial sister and choirmaster at the abbey. The empress and the composer shared the same mystical faith and a love of music. It didn't hurt that the deal provided Victoria with a luxurious house, freedom to travel and a lucrative salary. It was a match made in heaven.

For the next twenty years, Victoria wrote some of his finest works, including the magnificent collection of music for Holy Week. The death of the empress in 1603 clearly affected him profoundly. For her obsequies, he wrote his greatest work, the incomparable Requiem for Six Voices. The tradition of polyphonic settings of the Requiem mass began in the 15^th century in the Burgundian courts with Ockegham and Brumel. In other countries such as England, the requiem was never sung in polyphony. Charles V brought the Flemish tradition with him when he became King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. Charles' dedication to his Franco-Flemish heritage was so strong that he maintained three chapels royal: Castille, Aragon and the famous Capilla Flameneca, the later being served only by Flemish singers. The polyphonic requiem entered the Roman circle through composers such as Morales and Victoria, both of whom spend decades in Rome. This evening's concert pays tribute to the intense dedication to the cult of the dead which is such an important part of 16^th century Spanish mysticism.