Cristóbal de Morales was born in Seville, Spain, around 1500. He is considered to be the first major composer from the Iberian peninsula and the most important figure in early 16th-century Spanish music. He sang in the papel chapel in Rome from 1535-1545 and held several positions as chapel master in Spain at the cathedrals of Toledo and Málaga, among others. Like Josquin, Morales was deeply concerned with ex
pressing the meaning of the text, although he prefered compact, dense textures over clear articulation, as in his intense polyphony in the motet "Missus est Gabriel."