Alonso Lobo

Alonso Lobo is given the bracketed names “Lobo de Borja” in the New Groves, but brackets mean optional, so they are discarded here. Apparently the bracketed names arise from the mistaken belief that he was born in the town of Borja, but the New Groves dismisses that with unusual vehemence: “He was certainly not born at Borja, as has been erroneously stated”. It goes on to explain that his mother's maiden name was 'De Borja', which got people confused!

Regardless of where he wasn't born, however, he was definitely Spanish, and was actually born in Osuna, a small town about 70km east of Seville and around 125km north of Gibraltar. He was a choirboy in the Seville Cathedral, but studied for a degree at Osuna University and by 1591 had become canon in the collegiate church at Osuna. In that same year, he contracted to teach and assist in the direction of the choir at Seville Cathedral. Two years later, he was director of music at Toledo Cathedral, where he remained in 1604 before bouncing back to Seville Cathedral. He died in Seville in 1617.

He was widely considered throughout the Baroque period to be one of the finest Spanish composers, and Victoria thought of him as his equal -though I think it fair to say that whilst Victoria is widely known about, few modern listeners will have heard of Lobo.

His output is not huge. His 1602 published book of music for the Mass consisted of six masses and seven motets, but there are also three Passion settings, Lamentations, psalms and hymns, as well as a Miserere for 12 voices (which is now lost). His best-known work, Versa est in luctum, was written on the death of Philip II in 1598. No secular or instrumental music by Lobo is known to survive today. His music can sound like a fine blend of the contrapuntal complexity of Palestrina and the intellectual purity of Victoria, but is distinctively characteristic even so.

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