Sebastián de Vivanco
Encyclopedia
Sebastián de Vivanco was a Spanish
priest and composer of the Renaissance
.
; however, the exact date of his birth is unknown. It is hypothesized that he was born a few years after Victoria and that they both knew each other as children and sang together at the chapel of the Cathedral of Ávila
. During the time that Vivanco sang in the chorus, the maestri di cappella were Gerónimo de Espinar, Bernardino de Ribera (1559) and Juan Navarro Hispalensis
(1563). This last composer had the most profound influence on Vivanco. After 1566, with the change in his voice, Vivanco commenced studies as a priest, as Victoria had done.
Around 1576, while still a subdeacon
, he was named maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of Lérida, but shortly thereafter, on July 4, 1576, he was dismissed from this position. Upon his return to Castille
, in February 1577, he was named maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of Segovia, a position of higher prestige and pay than the previous ones. He moved there with his mother and remained there for the following ten years. During this period he became a deacon
and then, in 1581, was ordained as a priest.
In 1588, he returned to his native city, Ávila, in order to take charge of the cathedral chapel. He remained here until 1602, when he took possession of the position of maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of Salamanca. This was his last position and the most important to his musical contributions. His three publications were printed during his time in this city. On February 19, 1603, he became professor of music at the University of Salamanca
, and on March 4 of the same year, he received the degree of Master of Arts honoris causa. Vivanco was occupied with his position in the cathedral of the university until his death, on October 26, 1622.
Another book of motets was also printed in Salamanca in 1614, by Francisco de Ceatesa. The only known copy of this edition is held in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico. It contains 74 motets and is similar to the book published in 1610.
Other works are extant in various manuscripts, though their identification and cataloguing has yet to be completed. Among the manuscripts are:
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
priest and composer of the Renaissance
Renaissance music
Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...
.
Life
Vivanco was born in Ávila, like Tomás Luis de VictoriaTomás Luis de Victoria
Tomás Luis de Victoria, sometimes Italianised as da Vittoria , was the most famous composer of the 16th century in Spain, and one of the most important composers of the Counter-Reformation, along with Giovanni da Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso. Victoria was not only a composer, but also an...
; however, the exact date of his birth is unknown. It is hypothesized that he was born a few years after Victoria and that they both knew each other as children and sang together at the chapel of the Cathedral of Ávila
Cathedral of Ávila
The Cathedral of Ávila is a Gothic church in Ávila in the south of Old Castile, Spain.It was planned as a cathedral-fortress, its apse being one of the turrets of the city walls...
. During the time that Vivanco sang in the chorus, the maestri di cappella were Gerónimo de Espinar, Bernardino de Ribera (1559) and Juan Navarro Hispalensis
Juan Navarro Hispalensis
Juan Navarro of Seville, hence the epiphet Hispalensis was a Spanish composer. He is not related to the Mexican composer Juan Navarro Gaditanus, ....
(1563). This last composer had the most profound influence on Vivanco. After 1566, with the change in his voice, Vivanco commenced studies as a priest, as Victoria had done.
Around 1576, while still a subdeacon
Subdeacon
-Subdeacons in the Orthodox Church:A subdeacon or hypodeacon is the highest of the minor orders of clergy in the Orthodox Church. This order is higher than the reader and lower than the deacon.-Canonical Discipline:...
, he was named maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of Lérida, but shortly thereafter, on July 4, 1576, he was dismissed from this position. Upon his return to Castille
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...
, in February 1577, he was named maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of Segovia, a position of higher prestige and pay than the previous ones. He moved there with his mother and remained there for the following ten years. During this period he became a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
and then, in 1581, was ordained as a priest.
In 1588, he returned to his native city, Ávila, in order to take charge of the cathedral chapel. He remained here until 1602, when he took possession of the position of maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of Salamanca. This was his last position and the most important to his musical contributions. His three publications were printed during his time in this city. On February 19, 1603, he became professor of music at the University of Salamanca
University of Salamanca
The University of Salamanca is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the town of Salamanca, west of Madrid. It was founded in 1134 and given the Royal charter of foundation by King Alfonso IX in 1218. It is the oldest founded university in Spain and the third oldest European...
, and on March 4 of the same year, he received the degree of Master of Arts honoris causa. Vivanco was occupied with his position in the cathedral of the university until his death, on October 26, 1622.
Work
The bulk of Vivanco's surviving work was published in three books in Salamanca between 1607 and 1610 by the printer Artus Taberniel of Amberes, who by then was the official printer of the University of Salamanca. The books contain a selection probably chosen by the composer himself of his best pieces, spanning over 40 years of work. The books are:- Liber magnificarum. Published in 1607. Contains 18 versions of the MagnificatMagnificatThe Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...
. Consists of 270 pages in choral format. The cover page contains a likeness of the composer kneeling before a crucifixCrucifixA crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
. It is considered his most important work.
- Libro de misas. Published in 1608. Three extant copies are known, one of which is in the Church of Santa Maria la Mayor de Ledesma, Salamanca, and two other fragments in GranadaGranadaGranada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
and SevilleSevilleSeville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
. It contains 10 massesMass (music)The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
:- Missa Assumpsit Jesus, (5v)
- Missa in festo Beata Maria Virgine, (4v)
- Missa Beata Virgine in sabbato, (4v)
- Missa Crux fidelis, (6v)
- Missa Doctor bonus, (4v)
- Missa In manus tuas, (8v)
- Missa O quam suavis es, Domine, (4v)
- Missa quarti toni, (4v)
- Missa sexti toni, (4v)
- Missa super octos tonos, (4v)
- Libro de motetes. Published in 1610. Two copies survive, one in the Cathedral of Salamanca and the other in the Cathedral of Segovia. Both are incomplete. However, the copy in Salamanca is only missing a few pages, and approximately 70 motetMotetIn classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s remain.
Another book of motets was also printed in Salamanca in 1614, by Francisco de Ceatesa. The only known copy of this edition is held in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico. It contains 74 motets and is similar to the book published in 1610.
Other works are extant in various manuscripts, though their identification and cataloguing has yet to be completed. Among the manuscripts are:
- Two choral books copied for the Monastery of Guadalupe, in ExtremaduraExtremaduraExtremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
, copied at the beginning of the 17th century. They contain:- 3 masses:
- Missa Tu es vas electionis
- Misa para dias feriados
- Missa de Requiem taciturna
- Portions of the office for the dead
- A version of the hymnHymnA hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
Vexilla regis for Passiontide - 3 Lamentations of Jeremiah for Holy WeekHoly WeekHoly Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
- 2 small pieces
- 3 masses:
- Various manuscripts from the beginning of the 17th century pertaining to the Cathedral of Salamanca, containing motets and hymns.
Discography
Recordings dedicated entirely to Vivanco or which include some of his works are the following:- 1985 - Treasures of the Spanish Renaissance. Westminster Cathedral Choir. David HillDavid Hill-Politicians:* David B. Hill , Governor of the U.S. state of New York, 1885–1891, U.S. Senator from New York, 1892–1897* David Jayne Hill , politician from New York, United States Assistant Secretary of State, 1898–1903...
. CDA66168. - 1998 - Mortuus Est Philippus Rex: Music For The Life And Death Of The Spanish King. Westminster Cathedral Choir. James O'DonnellJames O'Donnell (organist)James O'Donnell, KCGS, LVO, FRCM, FRSCM, HonRAM is Organist and Master of the Choristers of Westminster Abbey, a position he has held since 2000....
. Hyperion. - 1999 - Canticum Canticorum. Orchestra of the Renaissance. Richard Cheetham y Michael Noone. Glossa 921403. 1999.
- 2003 - Lobo: Lamentationes. Vivanco: Missa Assumpsit Iesus. Musica Reservata de Barcelona. Bruno TurnerBruno TurnerBruno Turner is a British musicologist, choral conductor, broadcaster, publisher and businessman.-Life:The son of a motor spares magnate, Turner went on holiday to Sweden shortly after the Second World War...
. La mà de guido 2045. - 2003 - Sebastian de Vivanco. In Manus Tuas. Orchestra of the Renaissance. Michael Noone. Glossa GCD 921405.
- 2003 - Sebastian de Vivanco- Libro de Motetes 1610. Capilla FlamencaCapilla FlamencaCapilla Flamenca is a vocal and instrumental early music consort based in Leuven, Belgium. The group specialises in 14th to 16th Century music from Flanders and takes its name from the choir of the court chapel of Emperor Charles V...
y Oltremontano. Dirk Snellings, Wim Becu. (Las Edades del Hombre) Glossa LCD 9706 - 2005 - Sebastian de Vivanco. Missa Crux Fidelis. Motets. The Choir of King's College London. David Trendell. Gaudeamus.
Further reading
- Cantor, Montague. The Liber Magnificarum of Sebastian de Vivanco. Tesis, 2 vol. New York University. New York. 1967.
- Arias, Enrique Alberto. The Masses of Sebastián Vivanco (ca. 1550-1622): A Study in the Polyphonic Settings of the Ordinary in Late Renaissance Spain. Tesis, 2 vols. Northwestern University. 1971.
- García Fraile, Dámaso. La música en la iglesia de Castilla y León. Sebastián de Vivanco (ca. 1550-1622), Libro de motetes (1610). Estudio y Transcripción. Salamanca. Fundación Las Edades del Hombre. 2001.
- Arias, Enrique Alberto. Sebastian de Vivanco. Three Masses. 1978. ISBN 978-0-89579-109-2
- G. Edward Bruner, DMA: "Editions and Analysis of Five Missa Beata Virgine Maria by the Spanish Composers: Morales, Guerreo, Victoria, Vivanco, and Esquivel." DMA diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1980.[facsimile: University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI, USA