“Missa Papæ Marcelli”. Composer: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Sung By: The Tallis Scholars. Musical Director: Peter Phillips.

“Missa Papæ Marcelli”.

Composer: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

Sung by: The Tallis Scholars.

Musical Director: Peter Phillips.

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Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 – 2 February 1594)[1] was an Italian Renaissance Composer of Sacred Music and the best-known 16th-Century representative of The Roman School of Musical Composition.[2]

He had a long-lasting influence on the development of Church Music and Secular Music in Europe, especially on the development of Counterpoint, and his work is considered the culmination of Renaissance polyphony.[2]

Palestrina was born in the Town of Palestrina,[3] near Rome, then part of The Papal States, to Santo and Palma Pierluigi, in 1525. Documents suggest that he first visited Rome in 1537, when he is listed as a Chorister at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. He studied with Robin Mallapert and Firmin Lebel. He spent most of his career in the City.

“The Kyrie”.

First bars of Palestrina’s “Missa Papæ Marcelli”.

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From http://www.cpdl.org.

This File: 23 November 2005.

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Palestrina came of age as a Musician under the influence of the Northern European style of Polyphony, which owed its dominance in Italy primarily to two influential Netherlandish Composers, Guillaume Dufay and Josquin des Prez, who had spent significant portions of their careers there. Italy itself had yet to produce anyone of comparable fame or skill in Polyphony.[2]

From 1544 to 1551, Palestrina was the Organist of the Cathedral of Saint Agapito, the principal Church of his native City. In 1551, Pope Julius III (previously the Bishop of Palestrina) appointed Palestrina as “Mæstro di Cappella”, or, Musical Director of The Cappella Giulia,[4], the Choir of The Chapter of Canons at Saint Peter's Basilica.

Palestrina dedicated to Pope Julius III his first published compositions (1554), a Book of Masses. It was the first Book of Masses by a native Composer, since, in The Italian States of Palestrina's day, most Composers of Sacred Music were from The Low Countries, France, or Spain. In fact, the Book was modelled on one by Cristóbal de Morales: The woodcut in the front is almost an exact copy of the one from the Book by the Spanish Composer.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

Medium: Painting.

Source/Photographer:

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/senesino/Dei/Palestrina.jpg

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During the next decade, Palestrina held positions, similar to his Julian Chapel Appointment, at other Chapels and Churches in Rome, notably Saint John Lateran (1555–1560, a post previously held by Lassus), and Santa Maria Maggiore (1561–1566). In 1571, he returned to The Julian Chapel and remained at Saint Peter’s for the rest of his life.

The decade of the 1570s was difficult for him personally; he lost his brother, two of his sons, and his wife, in three separate outbreaks of The Plague (1572, 1575, and 1580, respectively). He seems to have considered becoming a Priest at this time, but, instead, he remarried, this time to a wealthy widow. This finally gave him financial independence (he was not well paid as Choirmaster) and he was able to Compose prolifically until his death.

He died in Rome of Pleurisy on 2 February 1594. As was usual, Palestrina was buried on the same day he died, in a plain Coffin with a lead plate on which was inscribed “Libera me Domine”. A Five-Part Psalm for Three Choirs was sung at the funeral.[5]

Palestrina's funeral was held at Saint Peter’s Basilica, and he was buried beneath the floor of the Basilica. His tomb was later covered by new construction and attempts to locate the site have been unsuccessful.