MORALES, CHRISTOBAL de. - Musician, born in Seville on 2 Jan. 1512, died in Toledo in 1553. He pursued his studies in his native city, and later completed them in Rome, where he was a singer in the Pontifical Chapel from 1540. On 1 Sept. 1545 he returned to Spain as director of the musical chapel of Toledo Cathedral.
M., distinguished by a grave and severe style, was one of the most steadfast opponents of the poor taste in religious music of his time. In the Musical Archive of Toledo there are manuscripts of 8 masses, 16 Magnificats, and 13 motets, while the following are printed: Liber I missarum quatuor vocum (Paris 1540), Magnificat octo tonorum cum quatuor vocibus, liber I (Rome 1541); Mottetti a 5 voci (Venice 1543); Liber II missarum cum quatuor et quinque vocibus (Rome 1544); Quinque missarum harmonis diapente, ideet quinque voces referens (Venice 1547). Much of M.'s music is found in collections by Raschlitz, Eler, Schad, Donfrid, and Petrucci.