Ensemble Praecentores presents Tomas Luis de Victoria’s Officium Defunctorum for six voices. This event is part of the Psalterium Institute’s November schedule featuring music in remembrance of the Dead.

Tomás Luis de Victoria (a Catholic priest and organist) was the most acclaimed Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He worked at a convent in Madrid where he served as chaplain to the Dowager Empress Maria, sister of Philip II of Spain.

His Officium Defunctorum (The Office of the Dead), was composed for the funeral of the Empress Maria, who died in 1603. It is considered one of the greatest works of sacred choral music of the Renaissance and one of the few large-scale works that enjoys continued performance in the 21st century. The piece features expressive and dramatic writing that reflects Victoria's personal and mystical fervor.