Vitoria, Tomás Luis de

VITORIA, TOMAS LUÍS de. — Spanish musician, born in Ávila in 1548, died in Madrid on August 27, 1611.

In 1557 he entered as a singer in the choir of the cathedral of

Avila, receiving his first music lessons from the maestro Espinaz. His progress was rapid and brilliant, so much so that in 1565 he was sent to Roma to continue his studies in polyphony and counterpoint. He was a student at the Collegio Germanico and after three years went as organist and singer to the church of S. Maria in Monserrato, enjoying the protection of Card. Truchess, to whom he dedicated, in 1572, his firstfruits Mottetti a 4, 5 e 6 voci. In 1575 he was again at the Collegio Germanico, succeeding Palestrina in teaching, and in 1578 he went to live with S. Filippo Neri at S. Girolamo della Carità, where he remained until 1585, writing the Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae. In 1596 he went to Madrid as chaplain to Empress Maria, for whose death he composed the Officium Defunctorum (1605), considered his most genial work. From 1605 until his death he was organist at the Descalzas Reales.

The artistic work of V. summarizes all the greatness of sixteenth-century Spanish art and draws its thematic material solely from the Gregorian repertoire and his creative genius. His compositions are animated by a vivid dramatic mysticism and extraordinary musical expressiveness, often reaching very intense pathetic effects.