Cristóbal de Morales

Though his masses and motets brought him international fame, and Morales is today regarded as the most important Spanish ecclesiastical composer of the Renaissance, his career is well documented through his employment as a singer -- including a decade in the papal choir -- and maestro de capella of several prominent cathedrals. If there is hardly a single anecdote to lend personal color to a life spent in such exalted occupation, several things may be inferred. Foremost, there is pride in having been born in Seville, one of the great European cultural centers; pride in getting...