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O Magnum Mysterium

Victoria composed the motet "O Magnum Mysterium" in 1572, setting text from a Christmas Matins service. He used canon form for the first part, with the musical and textual line unfolding from the highest voice to the lowest. All parts eventually sing the same text praising the newborn Lord. Victoria employed minor modes and many jumps and leaps in the lines, unlike some of his contemporaries who favored scalar motion.

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David Jordan Baxter
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199 views1 page

O Magnum Mysterium

Victoria composed the motet "O Magnum Mysterium" in 1572, setting text from a Christmas Matins service. He used canon form for the first part, with the musical and textual line unfolding from the highest voice to the lowest. All parts eventually sing the same text praising the newborn Lord. Victoria employed minor modes and many jumps and leaps in the lines, unlike some of his contemporaries who favored scalar motion.

Uploaded by

David Jordan Baxter
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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O Magnum Mysterium

In 1572, Victoria too the text from a Christmas Matins service and set it
in a four-part motet. Victoria utilizes the canon form for the first part of
this motet. The musical and textual line unfolds from the highest voice
to the lowest allowing the music to flourish to the point when all parts
are singing the same text (viderent Dominum natum). Here the
animals find themselves in wonderment at the newborn Lord. The line
hushes to praise the Virgin at O beata virgo. Victoria, unlike Palastrina,
did not shy away from using minor modes. Actually, he dots his
musical canvas with minor modes. Victoria also used many jumps and
leaps while many of his contemporaries leaned toward scalar and stepwise motion.

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