Repertoire

Cristóbal de Morales: Missa pro defunctis (A Requiem mass) (1544) 45′
Joan Pau Pujol (1570-1626): Miserere

A revival of Joan Pau Pujol’s work by Andrea Puentes-Blanco of the Music, Heritage & Society group, attached to the Milà i Fontanals Institution for Research in Humanities of the Spanish National Research Council

Artists

Cantoría

Program

One of the finest examples of 16th-century Castilian polyphony.The requiem for five voices Missa pro defunctis by the Seville-born priest Cristóbal de Morales (1500-1553) is a highly unique work. Influenced by the master of polyphony, Josquin Desprez, Morales came to achieve international recognition. His contemporary, Juan Vásquez, said that Morales was the light of Spain transformed into music. When the score of Missa pro defunctis was published, the musician was living in Rome. The work was sung posthumously in 1559 at the mass held in memory of Emperor Carlos V (Carlos I of Castile) in Mexico, a year after his death in Yuste. Thirty-nine years later, it was performed again in Toledo at the funeral of the emperor’s son, Felipe II of Castile.  One of the finest examples of 16th-century Castilian polyphony, together with the funeral masses by Guerrero and Victoria, it stands out for its ascetism, austerity and drama.