Tenebrae Responsories

Classics At the end of the 16th century, when vocal polyphony in Venice had long since developed into the "excesses" of late-Italian madrigals and polychoral music intended for external effect, Tomás Luis de Victoria decided to write his Tenebrae responsories in Rome with the simplest possible texture: four voices, with internal sections for only two or three voices. This simple yet deeply moving setting of the responsories for the services in Holy Week is undoubtedly one of the classics of Renaissance music.