Credits:

Penalosa Ensemble

Description:

This is a collection of "Music for the Virgin Mary" by two Spanish Renaissance composers. Francisco de Peñalosa was a gifted musician who was active as a church music director in Seville and served the papacy from 1518 to 1521. He wrote highly acclaimed religious music in the style of Josquin Desprez and other Flemish composers, but because of the paucity of his published works, his music did not spread widely outside of Spain. The "Peñalosa Ensemble," which performs the album, is named after this great composer. Tomás Luis de Victoria, on the other hand, was a composer of a generation some 80 years after Peñalosa, and is considered second only to Palestrina as a composer of polyphonic music. He too was a Jesuit priest in Rome, but returned to Spain in 1586 and entered the convent of the Daughters of the Descalzas Reales in Madrid. Here he served the Empress Maria and was a versatile priest, composer, choral conductor, and organist. His works were printed and disseminated throughout Europe, inspiring other composers, and his refined music is still widely appreciated today. Naxos Japan