motet notes - Morales

Cristóbal de Morales (1500-1553) was the first Spanish composer with a reciprocal influence over the European music. He lived some years in Rome, where he sang in the papal choir.  Morales wrote approximately two dozen Mass settings and was known for his creative mastery and austere use of counterpoint.  However, the consensus among historians is that he reached his greatest artistic heights in his motets, and above all in those motets where he chose somber words. "Peccantem me quotidie," for four-voice choir, constitutes a good example. Mostly the writing is austere and syllabic, the one slight concession to vocal virtuosity being the five-note rising scale that appears in all the parts by turns.

‍