Cristbal de Morales

in May and December 1534. By 1535 he had moved to

Rome, where he was a singer in the papal choir, evidently
due to the interest of Pope Paul III who was partial to
Spanish singers. He remained in Rome until 1545, in
the employ of the Vatican; then, after a period of unsuccessfully seeking other employment in Italy (with the
emperor, as well as with Cosimo I de Medici) he returned
to Spain, where he held a succession of posts, many of
which were marred by nancial or political diculties.
While he was renowned by this time as one of the greatest composers in Europe, he seems to have been unpopular as an employee, for he began to have diculty nding and keeping positions. Morales was the only composer that the parody Mass did not constitute a majority, even though he wrote more of this type than any
other. Moraless fame was due in part to the numerous
testimonials of those around him. The Spanish theorist
Juan Bermudo declared him the light of Spain in music,
while in 1559, a Mexican choir Spanish polyphony in
Cristbal de Morales
particular was quick to reach the New World sang his
Cristbal de Morales (c. 1500 between 4 Septem- music at a service commemorating the death of Charles V
ber and 7 October 1553) was a Spanish composer of the the previous year. His fame held strong on into the 18th
Renaissance. He is generally considered to be the most century when Andrea Adami da Bolsena, biographer of
many papal musicians, praised him as the papal chapels
inuential Spanish composer before Victoria.
most important composer between Josquin des Prez and
Palestrina.

There is some evidence that he was a dicult character,

aware of his exceptional talent, but incapable of getting
along with those of lesser musical abilities. He made severe demands on the singers in his employ, alienated employers, and likely came across as arrogant. In spite of
this, he was regarded as one of the nest composers in
Europe around the middle of the 16th century.[1]

Life

Cristbal de Morales was born in Seville and, after an

exceptional early education there which included a rigorous training in the classics as well as musical study
with some of the foremost composers, he held posts at
vila and Plasencia. All that is known about his family is that he had a sister, and that his father had died
prior to his sisters marriage (in 1530). Others who lived
in Seville were considered to be potential relatives of
Morales. These include Cristbal de Morales, whose position was to sing for the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1504,
Alonso de Morales, whose title was treasurer of the cathedral in 1503, Francisco de Morales (d 1505), a canon, and
Diego de Morales, who was the cathedral notary in 1525.

On 4 September 1553 he asked to be considered for the

position of maestro de capilla at the Cathedral of Toledo,
where he had previously worked, but died shortly after in
Marchena; the actual date is not known, but was before
October 7.[1]

2 Music and inuence

Earlier Spanish popes of the Borja family held a long tradition of employing Spanish singers in the papal chapels
choir. This had a signicant eect on Morales success.
Starting in 1522, there are three dierent occurrences
where a Cristbal de Morales was indicated to be an organist. There is little information of the whereabouts of
Morales from January 1532 to May 1534. Morales is
documented three times in Rome as presbyter toletanus

Almost all of his music is sacred, and all of it is vocal,

though instruments may have been used in an accompanying role in performance. He wrote many masses, some
of spectacular diculty, most likely written for the expert
papal choir; he wrote over 100 motets; and he wrote 18
settings of the Magnicat, and at least ve settings of the
Lamentations of Jeremiah (one of which survives from
1

a single manuscript in Mexico). The Magnicats alone

set him apart from other composers of the time, and they
are the portion of his work most often performed today.
Stylistically, his music has much in common with other
middle Renaissance work of the Iberian peninsula, for example a preference for harmony heard as functional by
the modern ear (root motions of fourths or fths being
somewhat more common than in, for example, Gombert
or Palestrina), and a free use of harmonic cross-relations
rather like one hears in English music of the time, for example in Thomas Tallis. Some unique characteristics of
his style include the rhythmic freedom, such as his use
of occasional three-against-four polyrhythms, and crossrhythms where a voice sings in a rhythm following the text
but ignoring the meter prevailing in other voices. Late in
life he wrote in a sober, heavily homophonic style, but all
through his life he was a careful craftsman who considered the expression and understandability of the text to
be the highest artistic goal.
Moraless masses, of which 22 survive, use a variety of techniques, including cantus rmus and parody.
Six masses are based on Gregorian chant, and these
are mostly written in a conservative cantus-rmus style.
Eight of his masses use the parody technique, including
one for six voices based on the famous chanson Mille regretz, attributed to Josquin des Prez. The melody is arranged so that it is clearly audible in every movement,
usually in the highest voice, giving the work considerable
stylistic and motivic unity.
Morales also wrote two masses on the famous L'homme
arm tune, which was so often set by composers in the
late 15th century and 16th century; one of these is for four
voices, and the other for ve. The four voice mass uses
the tune as a strict cantus rmus, and the setting for ve
voices treats it more freely, migrating it from one voice to
another.[2]
In addition, he wrote a Missa pro defunctis (a Requiem
mass). Its peculiarities of transmission, as well as its apparent incomplete editing, suggest that it may be his last
work.[1]
Morales was the rst Spanish composer of international
renown. His works were widely distributed in Europe,
and many copies made the journey to the New World.
Many music writers and theorists in the hundred years
after his death considered his music to be among the most
perfect of the time.
The 'Parce mihi Domine' from his Ocium Defunctorum
was used as the key track (in three versions) on the best
selling Jazz and Classical Album of 1994, Ocium, by
Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble.

Works
22 masses

RECORDINGS

Missarum Liber primus (Rome, 1544)

Missa Aspice Domine 4v

Missa Ave Maris Stella 4v
Missa De Beata Virgine 4v
Missa L'homme arm 5v
Missa Mille Regretz 6v
Missa Quaeramus cum pastoribus 5v
Missa Si bona suscepimus 6v
Missa Vulnerasti cor meum 4v

Missarum Liber secundus (Rome, 1544)

Missa Benedicta es caelorum reginae [=
Missa Valenciana] 4v
Missa De Beata Virgine 5v
Missa Gaude Barbara 4v
Missa Lhomme arme 4v
Missa Pro defunctis 5v
Missa Quem dicunt homines 5v
Missa Tu es vas electionis 4v
Others:

Missa Caa
Missa Cortilla
Missa Desilde al cavallero 4v
Missa Super Ut re mi fa sol la 4v
Missa Tristezas me matan 5v
Ocium defunctorum 4v (ca. 152628)

18 settings of the Magnicat

5 Lamentations of Jeremiah
over 100 motets

4 Recordings
Cristbal de Morales, Missa de Beata Virgine (a5).
Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe. The
V. Sessions, 2009.
Cristbal de Morales, Missa mille regretz. Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players. CD Archiv 474
228-2.
Cristbal de Morales, Morales: Requiem. Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort. CD Archiv 457 597-2
Cristbal de Morales, Morales en Toledo. Michael
Noone, Ensemble Plus Ultra. GCD 922001
Cristbal de Morales, Ocium (Parce mihi
Domine). Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble.
ECM 1525
Cristbal de Morales, Missa Si bona suscepimus.
The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips. Gimell CDGIM
033.

3
Cristbal de Morales, Ocium defunctorum, Missa
pro Defunctis. La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Hesprion XX, Jordi Savall. Naive ES 9926.
Cristbal de Morales, Missa Vulnerasti cor meum.
Canticum Canticorum. Orchestra of the Renaissance, Richard Cheetham, Michael Noone. Glossa
cabinet GCD C81403.

Notes

[1] Stevenson/Planchart, Grove

[2] Gangwere, p. 216-219.

References and further reading

Robert Stevenson/Alejandro Planchart: Cristbal
Morales, Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed November 9, 2006), (subscription access)
Article Cristbal de Morales, in The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley
Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd.,
1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
Stevenson, Robert M. Cristbal de Morales (ca.
1500-1553): Light of Spain in Music. InterAmerican Music Review 13/2 (Spring-Summer
1993): 1105.
Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New
York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-39309530-4
Blanche Gangwere, Music History During the Renaissance Period, 15201550. Westport, Connecticut, Praeger Publishers. 2004.
Atlas, Allan W. Renaissance music: music in Western Europe, 1400-1600. New York, N.Y. W.W.
Norton and Company, 1998.
G. Edward Bruner, DMA: Editions and Analysis
of Five Missa Beata Virgine Maria by the Spanish
Composers: Morales, Guerreo, Victoria, Vivanco,
and Esquivel. DMA diss., University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, 1980.[facsimile: University
Microlms International, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

External links
"Christbal Morales". Catholic Encyclopedia. New
York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
Free scores by Cristbal de Morales at the
International Music Score Library Project

Free scores by Cristbal de Morales in the Choral

Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
Maestros del Siglo de Oro, Morales, Guerrero, Victoria, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Hesprion XX,
dir. Jordi Savall, Alia Vox AVSA9867

8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

Cristbal de Morales Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crist%C3%B3bal%20de%20Morales?oldid=640060933 Contributors:

JASpencer, Zoicon5, Leonard Vertighel, Antandrus, Marcus2, D6, Dbachmann, Byrial, Linuxlad, Kay Dekker, FeanorStar7, SDC,
Rjwilmsi, Btw, YurikBot, RussBot, Curpsbot-unicodify, Gaudio, SmackBot, Khepidjemwa'atnefru, Hmains, FordPrefect42, Frinck51,
Reccmo, Rigadoun, Wikidwitch, Attybhatty, Grzegorz Wysocki, STBot, R'n'B, TXiKiBoT, SieBot, Baroque1700, Addbot, Vejvanick,
Lightbot, Zorrobot, Aldney, AnomieBOT, Kaitil, Omnipaedista, Zumalabe, Prudenzia, FrescoBot, Frigaer, LucienBOT, Cjordahl, RjwilmsiBot, Nostalgic34, EmausBot, Gebrunerdma, Esrice, SporkBot, ClueBot NG, , Basemetal, VIAFbot, Pincrete and Anonymous:
23

8.2

Images

File:Cristbal_de_Morales_by_James_Caldwall.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Crist%C3%
B3bal_de_Morales_by_James_Caldwall.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: This image is available from the New York Public
Library's Digital Library under the digital ID 1407457: digitalgallery.nypl.org digitalcollections.nypl.org Original artist: James Caldwall
after Angelo Rossi
File:De_Morales_Parce_mihi_Domine.ogg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/De_Morales_Parce_mihi_
Domine.ogg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Composed by Cristbal de Morales. Kay Dekker did this
realisation.
File:Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/
Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work. Based on File:Gnome-mime-audio-openclipart.
svg, which is public domain. Original artist: User:Eubulides

8.3

Content license

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