Morales, Cristóbal (c. 1500–1553)

Spanish composer. He wrote many masses and motets which rank him among the finest contrapuntists of his time. Palestrina based a mass on his motet O Sacrum Convivium.

He studied at Seville under the cathedral maestro de capilla Fernández de Castilleja. He was maestro de capilla at Avila 1526–30, and some time later went to Rome, where he was ordained a priest and became cantor in the Pontifical Chapel in 1535. In 1545 he was given leave to visit Spain, but did not return, remaining as maestro de capilla at Toledo and Málaga, and serving in the household of the Duke of Arcos at Marchena.

Works Choral Twenty-one Masses, 16 Magnificats, 91 motets, Lamentations and other church music; cantatas for the peace conference at Nice (1538) and for Ippolito d'Este; madrigals.