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''Officium Defunctorum'' is a musical setting of the Office of the Dead composed by the Spanish Renaissance composer Tomás Luis de Victoria in 1603. The texts have also been set by other composers including
Morales Morales is a Spanish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alfredo Morales (born 1990), American footballer * Alvaro Morales (disambiguation), several people * Amado Morales (born 1947), Puerto Rican javelin thrower * Bartolomé Mor ...
. Victoria includes settings of the movements of the Requiem Mass, accounting for about 26 minutes of the 42 minute composition, and the work is sometimes referred to as Victoria's ''Requiem''. However, it is not his only requiem, in 1583, Victoria composed and published a book of Masses, reprinted in 1592, including a ''Missa pro defunctis'' for four-part choir. Victoria's Officium Defunctorum is considered one of the greatest works of sacred choral music of the Renaissance.


History

From the 1580s Victoria worked at a convent in Madrid where he served as chaplain to the Dowager Empress Maria, sister of
Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...
, daughter of Charles V, wife of Maximilian II and mother of two emperors. ''Officium Defunctorum'' was composed for the funeral of the Empress Maria. She died on February 26, 1603 and the great obsequies were performed on April 22 and 23. After Victoria made revisions and published ''Officium Defunctorum'' in 1605, he added a dedication to Margret, Maria's daughter. This piece was also Victoria's last composition before he passed In 1611.


Publication

Victoria published eleven volumes of his music during his lifetime, representing the majority of his compositional output. ''Officium Defunctorum'', the only work to be published by itself, was the eleventh volume and the last work Victoria published. It was dedicated to Princess
Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...
, who was a nun in the same convent as her mother, for “the obsequies of your most revered mother”. The date of publication, 1605, is often included with the title to differentiate the ''Officium Defunctorum'' from Victoria's other setting of the Requiem Mass. With the revisions, Victoria included the entirety of the Office of the Dead, including both the requiem mass and ceremonial music for both before and after the actual funeral service, due to the liturgical rulings at the time.


Structure

''Officium Defunctorum'' is scored for six-part SSATTB chorus. It was possibly intended to be sung with two singers to each part. It includes an entire Office of the Dead: in addition to a Requiem Mass, Victoria sets an extra-liturgical funeral
motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...
, a lesson that belongs to Matins (scored for only SATB and not always included in concert performances), and the ceremony of Absolution which follows the Mass.
Polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...
sections are separated by unaccompanied
chant A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes ...
incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...
s Victoria printed himself. The Soprano II usually carries the cantus firmus, though "it very often disappears into the surrounding part-writing since the chant does not move as slowly as most cantus firmus parts and the polyphony does not generally move very fast."Phillips. The sections of the work are as follows: * Second Lesson of Matins **''Taedet animam meam'' (motet; Job 10:1–7) *''Missa Pro Defunctis'' (Mass for the Dead) :With the Council of Trent, the liturgy of the Requiem Mass was standardized. Victoria sets all of the Requiem Mass sections except the Dies Irae sequence. :* Introit :* Kyrie :* Gradual :*
Offertory The offertory (from Medieval Latin ''offertorium'' and Late Latin ''offerre'') is the part of a Eucharistic service when the bread and wine for use in the service are ceremonially placed on the altar. A collection of alms (offerings) from the c ...
:* Sanctus :* Agnus Dei :* Communion *''Versa est in luctum cithara mea'' (motet; Job 30:31) *The Absolution ** Libera me (responsory) **Kyrie


References

*Atlas, Allan W. ''Renaissance Music''. New York; London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1998. *Phillips, Peter. Liner notes to ''Victoria Requiem''. The Tallis Scholars and Peter Philips, cond. Published 2001. Gimell B00005ATD0 *Turner, Bruno. editorial preface to ''Officium Defunctorum'', by Tomás Luis de Victoria. London: Vanderbeek & Imrie, 1988. Mapa Mundi, Series A: Spanish Church Music; no. 75. *Gatens, William J. 2021. “Officium Defunctorum.” American Record Guide 84 (3): 110. *Barker, John W. “VICTORIA: Officium Defunctorum; Motet (Music).” American Record Guide 66, no. 5 (September 2003): 200.


Notes


External links


tomasluisdevictoria.org
* * {{Authority control Choral compositions Requiems Compositions by Tomás Luis de Victoria 1603 works