D. Pedro de Cristo

This Portuguese composer was born in Coimbra, c1550 and died in the same town, 16 Dec 1618). One source states that his father, António Nunes, was a foreigner, while another tells us that both parents were from Coimbra; his baptismal name was Domingos. On 4 September 1571 he took his vows at the Augustinian monastery of S Cruz in Coimbra, and probably studied with the mestre de capela Francisco de Santa Maria. There are signs of the latter's influence within Pedro de Cristo's music, including a fondness for narrow overall ranges (16 notes being typical in the works of Francisco de Santa Maria and in the early part of Pedro de Cristo's surviving output), syllabic declamation in crotchets, and the simultaneous use of a cambiata figure in one part and passing notes in another.

Pedro de Cristo succeeded Francisco de Santa Maria as mestre de capela at S Cruz, and held the same position at its principal sister house, S Vicente de Fóra in Lisbon. Although the details of his movements between the two houses are unknown, the Capitulo Geral ordered him to move from S Vicente to S Cruz in 1605, while in 1615 his request to return to S Vicente was granted. A manuscript obituary states that, in addition to his compositions (he was renowned especially for his skill at chansonetas and other spirited music), he played keyboard instruments, harp, flute and dulcian.

It is not easy to establish the extent of Pedro de Cristo's surviving output. Four manuscript choirbooks preserved in the Biblioteca Geral of Coimbra University (MM 8, 18, 33 and 36) were copied wholly or in part by the composer. However, he rarely provided an attribution, and, although most of the pieces involved are attributable to him on the basis of style, some are clearly not his work. Looking beyond the autograph copies, a number of items preserved anonymously in MM 8, 18, 26 and 53, and in L.C.57 [Biblioteca Nacional, Lisboa], may be attributed to Pedro de Cristo on stylistic and other grounds (although uncertainties remain, rendering the work-lists below subject to future revision). A striking feature of the surviving output is the dearth of Masses – just one complete Ordinary setting, one ferial Mass and a separate Gloria.

The bulk of two of the autograph choirbooks 33 and 36 – was copied early in the composer's career, while work began on MM 8 and 18 towards the end of his life. Many motets in MM 33 suggest a novice composer, capable but unimaginative in his handling of the stile antico. A large proportion of these pieces employ unusually bunched clef combinations (such as C1, C1, C2, C3) and correspondingly narrow ranges. In the other sources one can trace the emergence of more distinctive stylistic traits, particularly in the field of rhythm, where Pedro de Cristo developed the above-mentioned penchant for declamation (and, occasionally, harmonic motion) in crotchets, which was relatively rare in Portugal at that period; this characteristic is found particularly in polychoral works such as the 8th-tone setting of the Magnificat and the hymn Sanctorum meritis. The majority of Pedro de Cristo's surviving works are, however, written for four or five voices and in a predominantly imitative style (although homophony is the basic texture in the settings of responsories and psalms, and short homorhythmic passages are common in other works). Among the composer's hallmarks, besides those already mentioned, are concisio and a fondness for sequence (both melodic and harmonic).

Owen Rees

P-Cug MM 33:

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Ego Sum Panis Vivus (ff. 43v-44r) ---------O Crux Venerabilis (ff. 31v-32r)