Of the three great 16th century Spanish composers, Cristóbal de Morales, Francisco Guerrero and Tomás Luis de Victoria, Guerrero, who lived from 1527 to 1599, spent the most time in Spain, with only a short stay in Rome. However, he has been described as having "a travel bug" and his life reads like a book of adventures. A much desired trip to the Holy Land, where he visited Damascus, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, took a dramatic turn when, on the way back to the French port of Marseilles, the ship was attacked twice by pirates. Not only did Guerrero lose all the money he'd made in Italy publishing his music during the robbery but he was also forced to pay ransom for his life. Once back in Spain and utterly destitute, Guerrero spent a stint in debtors' prison. The Seville Cathedral bailed him out. About this composer Kurt Schindler has said: "Less emotional than Morales, less dramatic than Victoria, Guerrero is great through the intense spiritual concentration,the unearthly loftiness of his conception" (03/10/14).
