Missa pro defunctis a four part Requiem for CATB composed in 1583, contains:
01. Introitus: Requiem aeternam.
02. Kyrie.
03. Graduale: Requiem aeternam.
- In memoria aeterna.
04. Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe.
- Quam olim Abrahae.
- Hostias preces tibi Domine.
05. Sanctus & Benedictus.
06. Agnus Dei.
07. Communio: Lux Aeterna.
- Requiem aeternam.
08. Libera me Domine.

♫ 01. Introitus: Requiem aeternam
© EMI CDM 7694822


♫ 02. Kyrie
© EMI CDM 7694822


♫ 03. Graduale: Requiem aeternam
© EMI CDM 7694822


♫ 04. Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe
© EMI CDM 7694822


♫ 05. Sanctus & Benedictus
© EMI CDM 7694822


♫ 06. Agnus Dei
© EMI CDM 7694822


♫ 07. Communio: Lux Aeterna
© EMI CDM 7694822


♫ 08. Libera me Domine
© EMI CDM 7694822

Missa pro defunctis a four part requiem SATB, written in Rome, contains:
- Dona eis domine
- Libera animas omnium
- Luceat eis
- Libera me
- Tremens factus
- Dies irae
- Requiem aeternam

This requiem written by Victoria is in several parts of the composition composed for alternating use, whereby some of the strophes will be performed by several voices CATB, other strophes will be sung uni sono in Gregorian mode. This is not an unusual way of composing. In the "Libera me, Domine" the parts "Tremens" and "Dies illa" are written for three voices CTB and the end part "Requiem" is again for four voices. The "Libera me, Domine" ends with "Kyrie", "Christe" and "Kyrie".
This work was published in 1583 together with other pieces three Responsoria which do not strictly spoken belong to the Missae pro Defunctis referring to the Liber Usualis but Victoria gave the numbering to it and they were all incorporated in this Requiem for four voices. We read in the manuscript Responsorio del Requiem a 4 voces. The pieces involved are settings of three Responsoria taken from the Officium Defunctorum ad Matutinem that’s the Office for the Dead: "Peccantem me quotidie", "Credo quod Redemptor" and the well known "Libera me, Domine". The "Responsorium, Peccantem me quotidie" ends with a Kyrie for five! voices CCATB. In the meaning of Victoria the real end of his Requiem for four voices.

Requiem responsories (1592) contain two motets:
01. Peccantem me (SATB) (1583)
02. Credo quod redemptor (SSATB) (1592)
Now, for the first time, this masterpiece (the 1603 requiem) of the great sixteenth-century Spanish polyphonist is published under the same cover (on Hyperion CDA 66250) as his less well-known requiem, the Missa pro defunctis (SATB), the Requiem responsories "Peccantem me" (SATB) and "Credo quod redemptor" (SSATB), which were published in 1583 and 1592 respectively.

♫ 01. Peccantem me quotidie
© EMI CDM 7694822


♫ 02. Credo quod Redemptor
© EMI CDM 7694822

Victoria's Officium defunctorum (SSATTB), which has been described both as 'the crowning work of a great master' and as 'the crowning glory of his art and one of the most magnificent choral compositions of the entire literature', was first published in 1605, including the Missa pro defunctis of 1603, written for Maria, Archduchess of Austria and Infanta of Spain (1528-1603).
It contains:
Officium defunctorum sex vocibus In Obitu et Obsequiis Sacrae Imperatricis (1603);
01. Lectio II: Taedet anima meam

The Missa pro defunctis contains:
01. Introitus: Requiem aeternam
02. Kyrie
03. Graduale: Requiem aeternam
04 Offertorium: Domine Iesu Christe
05. Sanctus
06. Agnus Dei
07. Communio: Lux aeterna
08. Motectum: Versa est in luctum
09. Responsorium: Libera me, Domine

Officium defunctorum:


♫ 01. Lectio II: Taedet anima meam
© Enchiriadis EN 2006


Missa pro Defunctis:


♫ 01. Introitus: Requiem aeternam
© Enchiriadis EN 2006


♫ 02. Kyrie
© Enchiriadis EN 2006


♫ 03. Graduale: Requiem aeternam
© Enchiriadis EN 2006


♫ 04 Offertorium: Domine Iesu Christe
© Enchiriadis EN 2006


♫ 05. Sanctus
© Enchiriadis EN 2006


♫ 06. Agnus Dei
© Enchiriadis EN 2006


♫ 07. Communio: Lux aeterna
© Enchiriadis EN 2006


♫ 08. Motectum: Versa est in luctum
© Enchiriadis EN 2006


♫ 09. Responsorium: Libera me, Domine
© Enchiriadis EN 2006

Victoria composed a Requiem for the Empress Maria. This was his second setting of the Missa pro defunctis, the first, a four part Requiem, having been published in Rome in 1583. While prior to the council Trent the Mass for the dead took many and various forms, the one set by Victoria, and currently by Pope Pius V in 1570.
Victoria's funeral music of 1603 is regarded as a masterwork of Spanish Renaissance music. The Gregorian Chant melody of the Requiem forms the cantus firmus on which the setting is based. It usualy appears in the second soprano part of what is throughout a six part composition (two sopranos, alto, two tenors, bass). An unusual feature is Victoria's omission of the section "Hostias et preces tibi" from the offertorium "Domine Jesu Christe".
The work was published in 1605, two years after its first performance, together with other pieces which do not strictly speaking belong to the Requiem, but which quite possibly were also performed at the funeral in 1603. The pieces in question are a setting of one of the lessons taken from the Office for the dead. "Taedet animam meam" (My heart is weary living), the funeral motet "Versa est in luctum" (My harp is turned to mourning), and the Responsorium "Libera me" (deliver me, Lord from eternal death).
His last work before returning to Spain was published in Rome in 1585 and consisted of compositions for the early-morning Office in Holy week, under the title Officium hebdomadae sanctae. These services and the music composed for them are also known as tenebrae (darkness), and as late as 1971 it was customary during these Office at the end of Holy Week to intone the final prayers and chants in complete darkness, the candles having been extinguished one by one. Victoria's tenebraeI compositions, and the Requiem of 1603, are among his best-known works.

Officium defunctorum sex vocibus In Obitu et Obsequiis Sacrae Imperatricis (1603); Lectio II: Taedet anima meam

The Missa pro defunctis contains:
- Introitus: Requiem aeternam
- Kyrie
- Epistola
- Graduale: Requiem aeternam
- Tractus: Absolve, Domine
- Sequentia: Dies irae
- Evangelium
- Offertorium: Domine Iesu Christe
- Prefatio
- Sanctus
- Benedictus
- Agnus Dei
- Communio: Lux aeterna
- Motectum: Versa est in luctum
- Ad absolutionem post missam
- Responsorium: Libera me, Domine
- Antiphona: in Paradisum