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    • 2022-23 Virtual Offerings >
      • The Choir Loft >
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Ave Maria by Tomás Luís de Victoria
We're now up to 50 of these Friday motets! Chcking back over the list, I find that it's quite an array of pieces we're looked at and listened to. As with the chorales and the Monday Madrigals, there are entire nascent concerts hiding in plain sight amongst all this repertoire--we'll see--

Starting today, and culminating two weeks from now with our 52nd motet, I am presenting a series of three very different 'Ave Maria' settings, each with its own charms and powers and special techniques.
Today's 'Ave' is by the inimitable Tomás Luís de Victoria (1548-1611), a magnificent eight-voice composition
drawn from his 'Cantiones Sacrae' of 1589.

Victoria's setting (a score is attached, with text and translation appended at the end) is of the longer version of the 'Ave Maria', with an appended prayer beginning 'Santa Maria, ora pro nobis'. The piece is not based upon the famous chant familiar to many of you, which forms the basis of his four-part 'Ave Maria', though it does begin with a similar motif.

What attracted me most about this great piece, hitherto unknown to me, is Victoria's treatment of the antiphonal texture, and the glorious full sound he creates, particularly in this remarkable live performance by the redoubtable Marian Consort.
Click here to download score
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