Aesthetical and historical aspects in Morales' 1544 Requiem

Abstract

The reign of Spanish emperor Charles V (1500–1553) was marked by the political and cultural unification of Spain. Despite the strong influence of the Inquisition, the country witnessed the flourishing of the arts, financed with the discovery of American gold. Among the beneficiaries of the royal patronage was the composer Cristóbal de Morales (1500–1553), who wrote the first Spanish requiem mass.The polyphonic Requiem à 5 (1544) was performed at the funeral of Charles V in 1559 and again in the obsequies of his son Philipp II, in 1598. Despite the international fame and posthumous prestige of Morales, little is known about the inception of this mass that holds immense political, artistic and historical importance. The available literature approaches the Requiem in collateral ways and there are currently no academic works dedicated exclusively to the musical or historical analysis of this masterpiece. Through comparison with similar works of funerary music from 1497 to 1556, this dissertation aims to highlight its exclusivity and the technical features behind its “beauty and profundity”, as it is described in epoch accounts.