0:00:13 > 0:00:16The Golden Age, 16th-century Spain.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22A turbulent, tumbling mix of heroism, Catholic mysticism,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25conquistadors and Inquisition.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29And out of this turmoil came this extraordinary music.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Spiritual, stirring, sublime.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37The sound of God's own composer.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39This film marks the 400th anniversary
0:00:39 > 0:00:42of the death of Tomas Luis de Victoria
0:00:42 > 0:00:44and the masterpieces you'll hear
0:00:44 > 0:00:47are among the greatest works of devotional music ever written.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50And they'll be sung by one of the world's greatest choirs...
0:00:50 > 0:00:52..The Sixteen.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57The Sixteen is conducted by its founder,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Harry Christophers, in the glorious setting
0:01:00 > 0:01:03of the Church of San Antonio de los Alemanes,
0:01:03 > 0:01:04here in Madrid.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08Victoria was not only the greatest composer
0:01:08 > 0:01:10of the Spanish Renaissance.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12For me, he is actually the greatest composer
0:01:12 > 0:01:14in the Renaissance, full stop.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16He's, quite simply, a genius.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22The highest states of mystical prayer were a gift granted by God.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25Victoria must have had that sort of experience
0:01:25 > 0:01:27to be able to produce that music
0:01:27 > 0:01:31that is on a higher plane than other forms of music.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34The music opens a window onto the world
0:01:34 > 0:01:38of this intensely spiritual man, musician, priest and mystic.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41This is an opportunity to celebrate his life and his creations,
0:01:41 > 0:01:44some of the most glorious work of the late Renaissance
0:01:44 > 0:01:46and the Spanish Golden Age.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Victoria has always been part of my musical life
0:02:08 > 0:02:11but he remains something of a mystery.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14Other composers, like the Italian Palestrina
0:02:14 > 0:02:18or the Englishmen Byrd and Tallis, have always had a sharper profile.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22But Harry Christophers believes that Victoria is a composer of genius
0:02:22 > 0:02:24and that his works are only now
0:02:24 > 0:02:27beginning to achieve their proper prominence.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30One of the most amazing things, for me, about Victoria is, you know,
0:02:30 > 0:02:32the way you can interpret his music.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36The way you can be incredibly daring about dynamics,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40and sometimes in performance, you know, we as a group,
0:02:40 > 0:02:46we feel so overpowered by the emotion that his music can give us.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50Within a very simple motet, you can create these incredible effects
0:02:50 > 0:02:53that have the listener sitting well up on their seat
0:02:53 > 0:02:56and they don't know what's going to happen next.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01It's that sort of...
0:03:01 > 0:03:06..drive of emotion that is so phenomenal about his music.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13The Sixteen specialises in music of this period,
0:03:13 > 0:03:16and for this programme the choir has travelled to Spain
0:03:16 > 0:03:19to perform some of Victoria's greatest works
0:03:19 > 0:03:23in this hidden, baroque jewel in the heart of Madrid.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27The Church of San Antonio de los Alemanes
0:03:27 > 0:03:29was built during Victoria's lifetime,
0:03:29 > 0:03:32and in this remarkable oval building
0:03:32 > 0:03:35every surface is painted with depictions
0:03:35 > 0:03:39of the life of Saint Anthony and of Spanish royalty.
0:03:39 > 0:03:40The acoustic here is ideal
0:03:40 > 0:03:43for displaying the glories of this music.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Victoria grew to maturity in what was a turbulent
0:04:00 > 0:04:02and exciting time in Spanish history.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05Europe was still recovering from the seismic shifts
0:04:05 > 0:04:08of the Reformation, when the doctrines, rituals and structures
0:04:08 > 0:04:11of the Catholic Church had been challenged
0:04:11 > 0:04:13at the very deepest level.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Music, painting, architecture were all crucial tools
0:04:17 > 0:04:19in the Catholic revival,
0:04:19 > 0:04:21what was also known as the Counter-Reformation.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23It's small wonder that someone
0:04:23 > 0:04:26with Victoria's talent and faith would flourish.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30Victoria was a fervent Catholic
0:04:30 > 0:04:33who longed for a closer relationship with his God.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35And his music is also architectural,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38responsive to the buildings it was written for.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40He was able to write so that his voices soared,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43like the churches, up to heaven.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47The first piece the choir is going to perform
0:04:47 > 0:04:49is Sancta Maria Succurre Miseris.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary is at the core of Catholicism
0:04:53 > 0:04:55and of Spanish Catholicism in particular.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Victoria wrote many settings of texts devoted to the Virgin.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05His particularly fervent, sensuous word-painting
0:05:05 > 0:05:09made him supreme among Renaissance composers.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13Victoria's music elucidates the plaintive text,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15"Holy Mary, succour the wretched,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17"help the faint-hearted,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19"revive the weeping."
0:08:32 > 0:08:35Tomas Luis de Victoria was born in 1548
0:08:35 > 0:08:39in the ancient, fortified city of Avila.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Avila lies 50 miles to the northwest of Madrid,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46surrounded by the plateau of the Central Sierras.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50Rising up against the austere, dry landscape of gigantic boulders,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53it's a bleak but beautiful setting.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58We have some tantalising details of Victoria's life.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01We know, for instance, that he was the seventh of 11 children
0:09:01 > 0:09:04and that his family was upwardly mobile.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Businessmen, naval commanders, ecclesiastics...
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Two of his uncles were priests.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14His father died when he was nine. Aged ten, he joined the choir
0:09:14 > 0:09:17in the 12th-century cathedral here in Avila,
0:09:17 > 0:09:21a centre of spiritual rejuvenation, especially mysticism.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26Here he studied the rudiments of music, by singing and organ playing.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30But, remarkably, it was also here that the legendary Spanish mystic Teresa of Avila,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34later Saint Teresa, happened to live.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36This warm-hearted, shrewd, gifted nun
0:09:36 > 0:09:39became one of the iconic figures of the Catholic faith
0:09:39 > 0:09:42and she knew the young Victoria.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45Saint Teresa was a mystic.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48She described her intense spiritual experiences
0:09:48 > 0:09:51in physical, even sexual terms, and it seems that Victoria
0:09:51 > 0:09:55sought to create a world in sound which has parallels
0:09:55 > 0:09:57with her writings and beliefs.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08What a marvellous building this is.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11It's filled with the richest decoration but, somehow,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15perhaps because of the quality of the stone, it feels as light as air.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17And what a joy it must have been
0:10:17 > 0:10:20to have heard the choir singing from here,
0:10:20 > 0:10:23tracing with one's ear the play of distinct voices
0:10:23 > 0:10:25in some masterpiece of polyphony.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Victoria, as a young boy, would have sat on one of these benches
0:10:28 > 0:10:31reading his music from the large central lectern,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35and in fact the cathedral still owns beautifully illuminated manuscripts
0:10:35 > 0:10:39from the 16th century that Victoria himself would have read.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53At this time, only men and boys were allowed to sing in the choir.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55Harry Christophers uses women in his choir,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58and the soprano voices are specially selected
0:10:58 > 0:10:59for their bell-like clarity
0:10:59 > 0:11:02in order to emulate the sound of boys singing.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27A defining moment in any male chorister's life and musical career
0:11:27 > 0:11:29is when his voice breaks.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32This happened to Victoria when he was 17,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35but he was considered talented enough for the King himself
0:11:35 > 0:11:37to sponsor his further education.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42Philip II of Spain paid out 45,000 maravedis, a large sum of money,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46and Victoria left the small town of Avila and travelled to Rome
0:11:46 > 0:11:49to study with the Jesuits, a powerful, indeed aggressive, force
0:11:49 > 0:11:51in the world of education
0:11:51 > 0:11:54and an order that saw itself as an army fighting to defend
0:11:54 > 0:11:57the traditional practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07The Salve Regina is the most famous hymn to the Virgin Mary
0:12:07 > 0:12:10and it's set by all Renaissance composers.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Victoria actually made one or two settings of this piece.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18The one we're performing is for double choir.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Beautiful layers of texture that he uses,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24just oscillating from one choir to the other.
0:12:47 > 0:12:52In 1565, Victoria entered the Collegium Germanicum.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55It was an international centre of excellence,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58with particular emphasis on the German missionary priesthood.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02It was run by a committee of six cardinal protectors,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05who decided that the collegians should wear red cassocks,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08which is why they became known popularly as "gamberi cotti",
0:13:08 > 0:13:10boiled lobsters.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12Victoria was recommended to the college
0:13:12 > 0:13:14by no less a person than Saint Teresa of Avila herself.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18In the 16th century, Renaissance Rome was the cultural centre
0:13:18 > 0:13:22of Europe, a thriving city for musicians and artists.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25It was the place to gain an international reputation.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28All the major composers of the time went there,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32including Victoria's great Spanish predecessor, Cristobal de Morales.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34And Victoria almost certainly met,
0:13:34 > 0:13:36and may even have been taught by, Palestrina,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39dubbed "the Prince of Music",
0:13:39 > 0:13:42and perhaps the most important composer of the time.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46In Rome, Victoria becomes fluent in Latin,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50he teaches and is eventually appointed Maestro di Cappella
0:13:50 > 0:13:54at the Collegium Germanicum, where he studied.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Crucially, in 1575, he's ordained as a priest,
0:13:57 > 0:13:59a sign of his devotion to the Church.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02And it's a true vocation.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05He never composed anything other than sacred music.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07And yet, he must have been homesick.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09He left his heart in Spain,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12and you can hear this in his motet of exile,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14Super Flumina Babylonis.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20400 years after Victoria's death,
0:18:20 > 0:18:25how can we be certain the way we're performing is how Victoria intended?
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Fortunately, there's a rich archive of Victoria's music,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31and I've come to the Santa Ana monastery in Avila
0:18:31 > 0:18:35to see some of his original printed scores.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38The first book I'm shown contains four separate parts
0:18:38 > 0:18:41that could be untied and handed out to the different voices.
0:18:41 > 0:18:47It was printed in Venice in 1572 when Victoria was 26 years old.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52So, is this a sign that he was already successful?
0:19:11 > 0:19:15Do we have any examples of his handwriting, at all?
0:19:46 > 0:19:49And these are instructions for the printer, is that right?
0:19:51 > 0:19:55Victoria's music was sent out to European cathedrals and colleges,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58certainly to Germany, Austria, Poland and Spain.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02I asked Alfonso if this made Victoria well-off.
0:20:24 > 0:20:30Is he the genius of Spanish Renaissance music, in your mind?
0:20:45 > 0:20:46So, a modern harmonic sense?
0:20:47 > 0:20:52- Well, Alfonso, thank you very much indeed.- Gracias.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57Victoria wrote a lot of music for Lent.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00And the service of Tenebrae is incredibly important
0:21:00 > 0:21:03in that build-up to Good Friday.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08Tenebrae, literally "darkness", so this was the evening service.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11They're very direct expressions of emotion
0:21:11 > 0:21:14and, for me, this is where Victoria is at his best.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41In 1583, Victoria dedicated a book of Masses to his monarch,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44King Philip II of Spain.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47He wrote, "For to what better end should music serve,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50"than to the sacred praises of that God
0:23:50 > 0:23:54"from whom proceeds rhythm and measure?"
0:23:54 > 0:23:57The luxurious nature of these publications reflects, in some way,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00the high esteem in which Victoria was held during his own lifetime
0:24:00 > 0:24:02and it also reflects
0:24:02 > 0:24:06the wonderful, strange textures and colours of his music.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09He asks voices to sing very high in their range, for example,
0:24:09 > 0:24:13which must, at the time, have seemed new and daring.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20At the great Prado Museum in Madrid, I've come to admire the work
0:24:20 > 0:24:22of a contemporary of Victoria's from Rome.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26A painter from Crete, who was also getting noticed.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29He called himself a devout Catholic
0:24:29 > 0:24:32and became known for his dramatic religious paintings.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34His name was Domenikos Theotokopoulos,
0:24:34 > 0:24:39who would later become famous in Spain as El Greco,
0:24:39 > 0:24:41The Greek.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50I particularly love this painting, the Annunciation,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53and it's a work that inhabits much the same world as Victoria's music.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57It has the same drama, the same sense of theatre.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59A combination of intense spiritual aspiration
0:24:59 > 0:25:02and the delight in the physical world.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05El Greco said that colour was the most important element
0:25:05 > 0:25:09in his work, and here are great blocks of it, pinks and blues
0:25:09 > 0:25:14and browns and greens. And at the centre, a burst of light,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16as the Holy Spirit comes through the canvas
0:25:16 > 0:25:18to visit the, no doubt, terrified Mary.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Looking round at El Greco's work strikes a chord.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29His paintings remind me that Victoria's music
0:25:29 > 0:25:31was also recognised at the time as colourful,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35or, to use the Greek word, chromatic.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38This was an expressive tool, because Victoria was not just
0:25:38 > 0:25:42a composer of pure music, he was also a word-painter.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Victoria often used text from the Song of Songs,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51a book in the Bible that's a rich, sensuous love poem,
0:25:51 > 0:25:52that was also used as an allegory
0:25:52 > 0:25:54for Christ's relationship with his church,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57and for many of the feasts of Mary.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01For one of these, the Assumption, Victoria wrote a motet
0:26:01 > 0:26:03and chose the very beautiful words,
0:26:03 > 0:26:05"She, whose fragrance was above price,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08"in garments delicately perfumed,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11"like a spring day, she was surrounded
0:26:11 > 0:26:13"by roses and lilies of the valley."
0:26:13 > 0:26:18Particularly apt for this rather delicate, fragile Mary.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21And then, much to my delight, at the top of the painting,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25watching the whole scene, is a group of musicians.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29I wonder what music was going through
0:26:29 > 0:26:31El Greco's head when he painted this.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33Victoria's, perhaps.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48Vidi Speciosam is a very special motet
0:26:48 > 0:26:51and we must remember that the Song of Songs is basically
0:26:51 > 0:26:56pagan love poetry written, probably, 300 years before the birth of Christ.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01There's no doubt about it, he clearly enjoyed writing them.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04In many ways it was the closest to opera he ever got.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07They're very, very sensual texts.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30Tomas Luis de Victoria spent two decades in Rome,
0:33:30 > 0:33:32where he established himself
0:33:32 > 0:33:35as a highly successful and celebrated composer.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38His work was being performed in churches all across Europe.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41But he wanted his music to be sung further afield.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45He supervised sets of his scores to be sent to Mexico,
0:33:45 > 0:33:48to Lima, Peru, and Bogota, Columbia.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51He had conquistadors in his family,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54and the new world would have seemed exciting and exotic to him.
0:33:54 > 0:33:59In Mexico, his scores were so popular they ran out of copies
0:33:59 > 0:34:01and had to write parts out by hand.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05It's fascinating to think that, nearly a hundred years
0:34:05 > 0:34:08after Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas,
0:34:08 > 0:34:10ships would come back to Europe
0:34:10 > 0:34:13laden with gold, silver, copper, cocoa beans, spices...
0:34:13 > 0:34:15But they'd also go back the other way,
0:34:15 > 0:34:20and in their cargoes they would have had copies of Victoria's music.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23Same ports, different trade.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26And a gift from the Old World to the young Catholic congregations
0:34:26 > 0:34:29of the New.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32Also at this time, other composers would be transcribing
0:34:32 > 0:34:36Victoria's work for their own use, often for teaching purposes.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39This way, his music infused the homes and palaces of the rich,
0:34:39 > 0:34:41for education, or private devotion.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46One of his best-loved pieces, O Quam Gloriosum,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49was arranged by others for voice and lute,
0:34:49 > 0:34:51giving us a tantalising glimpse
0:34:51 > 0:34:54into how music was performed and taught outside the church.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05Sacred music wasn't just for the divine service
0:35:05 > 0:35:09and for the performance by an all-male choir,
0:35:09 > 0:35:13which, of course, it would have been in Victoria's time.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17There are many examples of this sort of repertoire being done
0:35:17 > 0:35:20where you have a very florid lute accompaniment to the single voice
0:35:20 > 0:35:23and this would have probably been
0:35:23 > 0:35:26for teaching the young princess how to sing.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37It could also have been used for private devotion
0:35:37 > 0:35:39in the chapel of any stately home.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Still in Rome, Victoria was becoming homesick.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37In 1583 he dedicated his Missarum Libri Duo,
0:38:37 > 0:38:40his Book of Masses, to Philip II, his king and emperor,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44and expressed his desire to return home to Spain,
0:38:44 > 0:38:47"to spend my time in the contemplations of the divine,
0:38:47 > 0:38:49"as befits a priest."
0:38:49 > 0:38:51We don't know why he decided to leave
0:38:51 > 0:38:54what must have been a very successful career in Rome.
0:38:54 > 0:38:55It seems that some instinct
0:38:55 > 0:38:58was telling him to pursue a different, quieter path.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00Maybe he was just tired of living abroad.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02We do know that he was in demand.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05He had offers from the splendid cathedrals
0:39:05 > 0:39:07in both Saragossa and Seville.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11Victoria's long-range courtship of Philip II
0:39:11 > 0:39:13would pay off with a post in Madrid.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16At his nearby royal palace, El Escorial,
0:39:16 > 0:39:20the King would have enjoyed performances of Victoria's music.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25At this time, Philip, already ruler of vast swathes of the known world,
0:39:25 > 0:39:29was preparing his fearsome armada to invade England
0:39:29 > 0:39:33and persuade the bolshie English back into the Catholic fold.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37His second wife, Mary Tudor, Queen Mary of England,
0:39:37 > 0:39:39had died 30 years previously and, soon after,
0:39:39 > 0:39:45Philip had sought to marry her sister Elizabeth I, who refused him.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49Now, Philip assembled his fleets to attack England.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51He would be defeated, a significant omen
0:39:51 > 0:39:54of the decline of the Spanish Golden Age.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58Philip was afflicted with terrible gout
0:39:58 > 0:40:01which meant that, for the most part, he was confined to quarters,
0:40:01 > 0:40:04but, ever the committed Catholic, he was determined
0:40:04 > 0:40:08that he should still be able to witness Mass from here,
0:40:08 > 0:40:12his tiny bed tucked away into a corner of El Escorial.
0:40:15 > 0:40:20If I open this small door that leads off his bedroom...
0:40:20 > 0:40:22..what do we see?
0:40:22 > 0:40:24The high altar of the Palace Basilica,
0:40:24 > 0:40:27his very own en-suite chapel.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30So, Philip could watch the priests celebrating Mass,
0:40:30 > 0:40:32but the congregation couldn't see him.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35And, of course, he must have heard the music
0:40:35 > 0:40:39and, one hopes, taken some solace from it.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41In fact, we think that Philip died
0:40:41 > 0:40:46in this very bedroom, listening to the sound of the choir at dawn.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04Among Victoria's extensive canon of work
0:41:04 > 0:41:07is sublime music for special services,
0:41:07 > 0:41:10and particularly remarkable is his work for Holy Week.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16It's virtually unique for a 16th-century composer in its scope,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19liturgical music which takes worshippers on a journey,
0:41:19 > 0:41:23each piece of music fulfilling a specific purpose.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28His Lamentations offer a particular intensity of expression,
0:41:28 > 0:41:30passionate, sombre, mysterious.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35The Lamentations of Jeremiah
0:41:35 > 0:41:39have been set by all the finest Renaissance composers.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41Victoria's set is quite amazing.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46What constantly, for me, sets Victoria apart
0:41:46 > 0:41:51from all other composers is that he absolutely gets to the bottom
0:41:51 > 0:41:55of these texts. They are very, very personal interpretations.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18They're very sustained settings.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23They're incredibly difficult to sing because they need total control.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27When you sing them, you have to feel you're kneeling on bare stone
0:42:27 > 0:42:30and it's got to feel uncomfortable.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44Unlike El Greco, who was sacked by Philip II,
0:44:44 > 0:44:48Victoria enjoyed royal patronage for the rest of his life.
0:44:48 > 0:44:49The King's family liked him
0:44:49 > 0:44:52and he wrote music for their services on several occasions.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56Whereas the King lived in his vast, specially designed palace,
0:44:56 > 0:44:59with its magnificent chapel, his sister, Maria,
0:44:59 > 0:45:02on her return to Spain after the death of her husband,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05the Emperor Maximilian, led a very different life.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07She moved to the secluded, intimate dwelling
0:45:07 > 0:45:11of the convent of Las Descalzas Reales.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14It was here that Victoria worked as chaplain.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16At that time, it was a kind of safe house for royalty,
0:45:16 > 0:45:19home to 33 strictly cloistered nuns,
0:45:19 > 0:45:23Maria's daughter, the Infanta Margarita, being one of them.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26They were called the Barefoot Nuns,
0:45:26 > 0:45:28after the simple sandals they wore all year round.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46This is where Victoria worked, very happily, for quarter of a century.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50It was here that he played the organ, taught singing,
0:45:50 > 0:45:52served as a priest, worshipped in the chapel.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55We know that the elite of Madrid used to come to this convent
0:45:55 > 0:45:57in order to listen to Victoria's music,
0:45:57 > 0:45:59and we also know that he was still being published
0:45:59 > 0:46:03because he travelled to Rome to oversee an edition of his works,
0:46:03 > 0:46:05so he obviously still had the desire
0:46:05 > 0:46:07that his music should be known and performed.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18The priests here would have had to have been
0:46:18 > 0:46:21very accomplished singers of plainchant and polyphony,
0:46:21 > 0:46:23so Victoria was in his element.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27By all accounts, he was a friendly, jovial man.
0:46:27 > 0:46:28He didn't see his faith
0:46:28 > 0:46:30as a means of cutting himself off from the world,
0:46:30 > 0:46:32he became part of the community here,
0:46:32 > 0:46:36playing the organ, taking daily Mass and still composing.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38His royal patron, the Empress Maria,
0:46:38 > 0:46:41so valued Victoria's work that when she died
0:46:41 > 0:46:44she bequeathed to him a chaplaincy for life,
0:46:44 > 0:46:46which secured his future.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49She also chose to be laid in this marble tomb,
0:46:49 > 0:46:50right here in the choir room,
0:46:50 > 0:46:53rather than next to her brother in El Escorial.
0:46:55 > 0:47:00Victoria responded by writing what is arguably his finest work,
0:47:00 > 0:47:03a requiem not just for his patron but for an age,
0:47:03 > 0:47:08representative, perhaps, of the dying embers of Spain's golden era.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12The Requiem of 1605 is Victoria's final work.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14It's a simply magnificent statement
0:47:14 > 0:47:16of dignified and reverent spirituality.
0:47:40 > 0:47:46Victoria's Requiem of 1605 is the greatest legacy of Victoria's output.
0:47:46 > 0:47:50For me, it's the finest Requiem written by any Renaissance composer.
0:47:51 > 0:47:57It's a beautiful setting of some very enlightening words.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04Victoria's view of the world was a pretty rosy one,
0:51:04 > 0:51:07and there was never any indication that he suffered from doubt.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10His faith was always absolutely secure.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13Understanding this and understanding, too,
0:51:13 > 0:51:15the mystical dimension to his work
0:51:15 > 0:51:19makes listening to his music a completely different experience.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21The fashion for mysticism
0:51:21 > 0:51:24of the type encouraged by his mentor, Teresa of Avila,
0:51:24 > 0:51:27fits perfectly with the ecstatic nature of Victoria's music.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34Teresa of Avila, for instance, recommended
0:51:34 > 0:51:37that her nuns could follow their moods.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39If they were feeling sad or anxious,
0:51:39 > 0:51:42they could choose themes from the Passion,
0:51:42 > 0:51:45visualising scenes from the Passion, as if present,
0:51:45 > 0:51:49using their imagination to visualise small details,
0:51:49 > 0:51:56such as the tears and the sweat of anxiety experienced by Christ,
0:51:56 > 0:52:01and Victoria must have had that sort of experience.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12Congratulamini Mihi is the, sort of, culmination, really,
0:52:12 > 0:52:14of every facet about Victoria.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17His mysticism, his scholarly aspects,
0:52:17 > 0:52:19his life as a composer, his life as a priest,
0:52:19 > 0:52:22it all seems to me to come to one into this motet.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26Starting from a very, sort of, humble,
0:52:26 > 0:52:28minimalistic tone colours at the beginning,
0:52:28 > 0:52:32then just sending us into great ebullience with the final hallelujah.
0:52:32 > 0:52:33Just glorious.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34Victoria lived the rest of his life in the convent
0:56:34 > 0:56:37and would have spent several hours every day in this chapel.
0:56:40 > 0:56:45He loved playing the organ, and when he died in 1611, aged 63,
0:56:45 > 0:56:48he left his assistant this very instrument.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52It must have cost a considerable amount, but he paid for it himself.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59I was permitted to sit in the organ loft, but not to play it.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05The great Requiem that Victoria wrote for his patron, the Empress,
0:57:05 > 0:57:09rather touchingly, was used at his own funeral.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13Although Spain's Golden Age was declining,
0:57:13 > 0:57:15Victoria's music has lived on.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18And, as he would have wished, it continues to be performed
0:57:18 > 0:57:21in cathedrals and churches throughout the world.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26My short visit to Spain has allowed me to build a picture
0:57:26 > 0:57:28of the man Tomas Luis de Victoria,
0:57:28 > 0:57:32and it's certainly helped to clarify for me his place
0:57:32 > 0:57:36in the long eventful history of Catholicism in this country.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39I'm awestruck by a man who can dedicate his whole life
0:57:39 > 0:57:43and creative work to his faith, and do it with such a light heart.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47He was obviously a man of inexhaustible energy
0:57:47 > 0:57:50and this empowered him to chart his spiritual life
0:57:50 > 0:57:53with great honesty and huge power.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57And what a legacy of sacred music he left for us to enjoy.
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