Ave Maria
for Double Choir

Victoria's Ave Maria for two choirs is a splendid example of polychoral writing, a style most closely associated with San Marco in Venice, but which rapidly attained popularity throughout the rest of Europe. Unlike typical polychoral works, this piece does not treat the two choirs as separate entities answering simply back and forth. Instead, Victoria combines and re-combines the separate voices of the two choirs in ever-changing groupings to achieve remarkably diverse color changes and grandly sonorous effects.