Rare Victoria Masterpieces
Spain's Greatest Composer
Sunday, October 15, 3:00 p.m., St. Bernadette Church
70 University Blvd. East, Silver Spring, MD (just off the Beltway, free parking)
Missa Quam pulchri sunt
Pange lingua "more hispano"
Rarely-heard motets
* Renaissance master Tomás Luis de Victoria is generally regarded as Spain's
greatest composer. While a few of his best-known works display solemn emotion, most of his beautiful motets and Masses have a joyful character.
* Victoria's motet Quam pulchri sunt takes its text from the Song of Songs, traditionally associated with the Virgin Mary. Victoria sets it and his Mass based on
it in the sunny Lydian mode.
* Victoria's supremely beautiful setting of the hymn Pange lingua "more hispano"
(in the Spanish manner) sets the ancient Mozarabic (Spanish) plainchant hymn melody.