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1525 - 1594. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. BIOGRAPHY Born: between February 3, 1525 and February 2, 1526 - probably Palestrina, near Rome, then part of the Papal States, Italy Died: February 2, 1594 - Rome, Italy.
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1525 - 1594 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
BIOGRAPHY • Born: between February 3, 1525 and February 2, 1526 - probably Palestrina, near Rome, then part of the Papal States, ItalyDied: February 2, 1594 - Rome, Italy. • Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian composer of the Renaissance. He was the most famous 16th century representative of the Roman School of musical composition.
Palestrina had a vast influence on the development of Roman Catholic church music, and his work can be seen as a summation of Renaissance polyphony. • Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was born in Palestrina, a town near Rome, then part of the Papal States. He spent most of his career in Rome.
From 1544 to 1551 Palestrina was organist of the principal church of his native city (St Agapito), and in the last year became maestro di cappella at the Cappella Giulia, the papal choir at St. Peter's Basilica. 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 married again, this time to a wealthy widow; this finally gave him financial independence. He was not well paid as choirmaster but he was able to compose prolifically until his death. He died in Rome of pleurisy in 1594.
MUSIC AND COMPOSITIONS Palestrina left hundreds of compositions, including 104 masses, 68 offertories, more than 300 motets, at least 72 hymns, 35 magnificats, 11 litanies, 4 or 5 sets of lamentations etc., at least 140 madrigals and 9 organ ricercari. .
The Missa Papae Marcelli, written in 1567, is Palestrina's most well-known mass and represents one of his greatest achievements: the beautiful balance between textual clarity, artistic beauty and florid counterpoint.
The Missa Papae Marcelli consists, like most Renaissance masses, of a Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus/Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, though the Agnus Dei is in two parts rather than the common three. The mass is freely composed, not based upon a cantus firmus or parody. Perhaps because of this, the mass is not as thematically consistent as Palestrina's masses based on models.It is primarily a six-voice mass, but voice combinations are varied throughout the piece.
In the Tridentine Mass, the Kyrie is the first sung prayer in the Order of Mass. It is usually (but not always) part of any musical setting of the Mass. Kyrie movements often have an ternary (ABA) musical structure that reflects the symmetrical structure of the text. Musical settings exist in styles ranging from Gregorian chant to Folk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16cH1RZcPKs KYRIE
The Gloria has been and still is sung to a wide variety of melodies. Modern scholars have catalogued well over two hundred of them.The Roman Missal indicates several different plainchant melodies. In addition, several "farced" Gloria's were composed in the Middle Ages and were still sung in places when the Roman Missal was revised by order of Pope Pius V in 1570. These expanded the basic Gloria by, for instance, adding to mentions of Jesus Christ a mention of some relationship between him and his mother. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tMWwt25wQA Gloria
CREDO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A02VoJFv-jkSANCTUS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWOou88K4q4BENEDICTUS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJY6Gi9zGHMAGNUS I : http://youtu.be/7EhQ1eOfgwIAGNUS II: http://youtu.be/mGWNVrXlhew LISTENING GUIDE
