Hyperion Records

At the time of King Philip’s death Ambrosio Cotes was maestro de capilla at Valencia Cathedral. His grand motet for seven voices, surviving in part-books kept at the Royal College of Corpus Christi (familiarly ‘The Patriarca’) in Valencia, bears the superscription ‘In exequiis Catholici Regis Philippi ij’. There can be little doubt that it was composed for a memorial service celebrated at the cathedral soon after the royal exequies had taken place in Madrid on 18 and 19 October 1598, some five weeks after Philip’s death and prompt burial at the Escorial.

from notes by Bruno Turner © 1998