RenaissanceTomás Luis de Victoria
Tomás Luis de Victoria was born in Ávila, Spain, almost five hundred years ago.
Tomás Luis de Victoria’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1548👶 Birth
Born around 1548 in Ávila, Castile
- 1555🌍 Meanwhile
Andrea Amati makes the earliest known violins in Cremona (c. 1555)
- 1558📚 Trainingabout age 10
Choirboy at Ávila cathedral
- 1565🧳 Journeyabout age 17
Goes to Rome to study at the Jesuit German College
- 1569🎩 Careerabout age 21
Organist and singer at Santa Maria di Monserrato
- 1572🎼 Workabout age 24
First book of motets, including O magnum mysterium
- 1575🎩 Careerabout age 27
Ordained a priest
- 1583🎼 Workabout age 35
Two books of Masses dedicated to King Philip II
- 1585🎼 Workabout age 37
Office for Holy Week
- 1600🌍 Meanwhile
Shakespeare writes Hamlet (c. 1600)
- 1609🌍 Meanwhile
Galileo observes the sky with his telescope
- 1611🕯️ Deathabout age 63
Dies in Madrid on 27 August
Listen to the music
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Excerpts of up to 90 seconds, freely licensed recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
Once upon a time…
Tomás Luis de Victoria was born in Ávila, Spain, almost five hundred years ago. He had ten brothers and sisters! As a child he sang in his town’s cathedral choir.
As a teenager he went to study in Rome, where he probably met the great Palestrina. He became a priest and composed music for church. He wrote only religious music: no love songs, no dance songs!
His music is very moving: it seems to pray and weep with the words. Later he went back to Spain and worked for an empress who lived in a convent in Madrid. For her funeral he wrote a Requiem that became famous.
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