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Two years later he moved to Plasencia, and toward the end of 1531 or beginning of 1532 went to Italy, first probably to Naples and then Rome, joining the Papal Choir in 1535. There, in the service of Pope Paul III, who was a music lover and protector of the members of his chapel, Morales remained for a period of ten years. He was neither the first, nor the last Spaniard to have formed part of a choir that included Spaniards for more than a century. Peñalosa himself had belonged to the Papal Choir for four years, under Pope Leo X, and we cannot rule out the possibility that Peñalosa may have mentioned to Morales the benefits of working at such a stimulating and distinguished institution, surrounded by prestigious colleagues. The years that Morales served in the Papal Choir coincide, for instance, with the presence there of Constanzo Festa, and with Jacques Arcadelt, at whose request Morales published, in 1539, one of his very few secular works, the madrigal Ditemi o si o no senza timore included in the Quarto libro dei madrigali d’Archadelet …con alcuni d’altri autori (Venice, 1539). It is said that Morales wrote another Italian madrigal, one villancico, and one secular romance, but beyond these pieces and a few others, his incursion into the secular repertory seems to have been limited to three melodies he utilised as canti firmi in several of his masses: the tune of the villancico Tristezas me matan, and the celebrated L’homme armé and Mille regretz, the use of which by Morales must be understood as a tribute to the Franco-Flemish school.
If the Missa Tristezas me matan did not get printed until recent times, both the Missa L’homme armé and the Missa Mille regretz are part of his Missarum liber primus (Rome, 1544), edited the same year as the Missarum liber secundus that Morales dedicated to Pope Paul III (the former collection was dedicated to Cosimo de’ Medici). The dedication is well known, since it contains a surprising manifesto by the author in defence of sacred music. Morales observes that music ranks the highest among the arts because it alleviates and soothes the body as well as the soul, which, through music, soars towards God and is protected from evil. In spite of music’s highest purpose, Morales is perplexed by the fact that “the majority among the best composers, especially in our time, would use her to vain—if not obscene—purposes, being only few for those who use her for the purpose for which she was created.” After lamenting the fate of an art so “elevated and sublime,” he endeavours to concentrate all his efforts on the study of music, in order to restore it to its rightful place by glorifying God with his songs.
And so it was, indeed, as in the next collection of published works, the Magnificat… liber primus (Venice, 1564), six additional compositions of this type were added to the ten already published (Venice, 1542). A multitude of liturgical motets followed to complete a collection that presently numbers a hundred works, along with several masses and a set of four lamentations edited posthumously (Venice, 1564), to which must be added another lamentation kept in manuscript form in Puebla Cathedral in Mexico. Only a part of this output was composed in Rome, which Morales left in 1545 to become, shortly thereafter, the maestro de capilla of the primatial Cathedral of Toledo. After Toledo he entered in 1548 into the service of the Duke of Arcos in Marchena (Seville), and three years later became maestro de capilla of Malaga Cathedral. All these changes were motivated by his search for economic stability rather than fame, which he enjoyed during his life as well as after his death through the dissemination of his published works and the quality of his music, which his contemporary Juan Bermudo said possessed the charm of the Spanish sound while not lacking the depth or technical artifice that characterised foreign music, by which Bermudo meant Franco-Flemish works (Declaration of Musical Instruments, Osuna, 1555).
Nevertheless, under his pen, this “charm,” or pleasurable quality, in Spanish music loses a certain degree of the tenderness flowing from the works of Peñalosa and acquires a more sober and concise tone, while imbued with profound religious emotion. The climax of mystical expression that Cristóbal de Morales is capable of reaching with his music is comparable to the poetry of Saint John of the Cross, with its tense suspensions that culminate in a deep sensation of peace and melancholy. Perhaps one of the works that best manifests Morales’ idiosyncratic aesthetic is his Missa pro defunctis for five voices, included in the second book of masses. The exceptionally dramatic content of the texts of the Requiem, with their reflection on the passing of time, the brevity of life, and the imminence of the Last Judgement, seem to create the perfect atmosphere for the expression of a mystical emotion that Morales shared with other mystics and distinguished composers of his century.
During the solemn obsequies celebrated in Mexico City in November of 1559 for Charles V, part of the music performed was by Morales, specifically his Officium defunctorum. His music was considered worthy of an emperor for this as well as for previous occasions. We can cite within this context his motet for six voices, Jubilate Deo omnis terra, written for the summit between the Emperor Charles V and Francis I of France, held in Nice in June of 1538 to negotiate a truce after territorial disputes. This meeting had been promoted by the Pope, who commissioned the chapel singer in his service, Cristóbal de Morales, to write a work to commemorate the event. The motet is divided into two sections, each of which develop an ostinato in the Tenor II, which consists of 18 repetitions of a melodic fragment that repeats the word “gaudeamus,” while the other voices sing the praises of an encounter that sealed a ten-year peace treaty. The work was premiered by 20 singers from the royal chapel in sumptuous attire, along with some instrumentalists recruited by the Pope on the way to Nice. The impression this work made was so indelible that one generation later Victoria used it as inspiration for his Missa Gaudeamus, after it had been adapted for the vihuela by Valderrábano (1547) and Fuenllana (1554), and after multiple printed editions.
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