music included easy counterpoint, textual emphasis with care given to the music for this purpose and delightful variations. Many of them also include folk poetry and allude to Spanish folk song styles, and they seem to have been quite popular during the composer's lifetime. Agenda defunctorum Vásquez's setting (published in 1556) is remarkable for being part of a complete Agenda defunctorum that included Matins and Lauds in addition to the more usual Vespers and Mass. In the first publication, the original Sevillan chants appear alongside their polyphonic elaborations. It was in Spain and Portugal that the tradition of stile antico requiem settings had the greatest longevity, its ramifications extending well into the next century (as with Tomás Luis de Victoria's setting), and, through the colonial possessions of both countries, into new continents as well. The service seems to follow the example of Morales closely, and indeed both were written for Seville. Vásquez composed his imposing Agenda defunctorum in 1556 in Sevilla. For the text Vásquez has chosen parts out of the Officium Defunctorum of the Seville Cathedral. Versions of most of these chants can be found in the modern Liber Usualis. This work by Vásquez consists of six parts: Inventorium (Invitatory), In Primo Nocturno (first night), In secundo Noctruno (second night), In tertio Nocturno (third night), Ad Laudes (laude), and Missa pro defunctis. The musical items not set polyphonically by Vásquez would have been performed using their original plainchant, possibly with improvised polyphony. The items which Vásquez set whose corresponding chants can be found in the Liber Usualis are the Invitatory, Psalm no.5, nine antiphons, five lessons, one Responsorium, the Canticum Zachariae, the Requiescant in pace, Amen and the Missa pro defunctis. Vásquez has written this Agenda defunctorum for four voices (SATB). In most of the pieces from the Agenda defunctorum, Vásquez uses the homophonic and polyphonic style alternately. The Canticum Zachariae is optimised for alternating between these, in which the strophe with even numbers will be performed by several voices (SATB), and the strophe with odd numbers by one voice. The Responsorium Libera me, Domine is similarly written for alternating plainsong and polyphony. The Graduale is set for three voices (ATB). Discography Dedicated discs Agenda Defunctorum: Capilla Peñaflorida, Josep Cabré. Isabel Álvarez (soprano), Karmele Iriarte (soprano), M. Jesús Ugalde (soprano), David Azurza (alto), Mirari Pérez (alto), David Sagastume (alto), Jon Bagüés (tenor), Josep Benet (tenor), Peio Ormazábal (tenor), Nicolás