SOTO, FRANCISCO. – Oratorian, born in Osma (Spain) in 1536, died in Rome in 1619.
Having come to Rome, he demonstrated his outstanding musical abilities and was appointed a soprano in the Pontifical Chapel in 1562. Frequenting the Oratory of S. Girolamo, he asked to enter the nascent Congregation of the Oratory and was admitted in 1571; in 1575 he became a priest. Deeply pious, he devoted himself to spiritual direction and founded the first convent of reformed Carmelites and a female orphanage. Maestro of the Sistine Chapel, he was highly esteemed for his musical activity. He published the third book of Laudi spirituali a tre e quattro voci (1588); he later published a fourth, in addition to minor compositions. Together with Animuccia, he initiated the musical tradition of the Roman Filipino Oratory.