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GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA

1525 or 1526 --- 2nd February 1594

Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina Born 1525 Palestrina, Italy and takes his name from his birthplace, Palestrina, a little hill
town not too distant from Rome  and Died 1594 Rome, Italy.  The family name was Pierluigi,  but was frequently omitted
in the writings of the composer,  the name appearing as simply  Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina.

His exact birth date is unknown as the official birth records of Palestrina were destroyed by a fire in 1577. The composers
ancestors had  provably lived for  several generation  in Palestrina,  his father,  Sante Pierluigi,  owned  a little land  and a
home.  Part of  the house where  the composer  was born still  stands and is  marked with a plaque  to designate  it today.

Giovanni, as a boy,  probably sang in the choir at the local cathedral,  Saint Agapit.  He later became the  organist and the
choir director of the Palestrina cathedral. During his tenure there, he had married Lucrezia Gori and receiving  as a dowry
household of goods,  a vineyard,  meadows,  house and some cash.  Two sons were born to the couple while  they resided
quite comfortably in Palestrina.

After the Bishop of  Palestrina was elevated to the Holy See,  becoming Pope Julius III, he requested Giovanni to move to
Rome and  appointed him director  of Julian Chapel choir.  His first book of masses (1544) was printed  at the composer's
expense shortly after his move.  The Roman Catholic Church started  a counter reformation,  a setting in  order of its own
house.  Much that  was secular had crept into  the music of the Church,  and some authorities  questioned whether it was
polyphonic settings of the Mass ensured the text beyond recognition.

Pope  Julius III  started some reforms  which were carried  on by his successor, Pope Marcellus II.  The  latter summoned
Papal Choir before him and directed that their music should be out "in a suitable manner with properly  modulated voices
so everything could both heard understood".  Palestrina seems to have been impressed with the artistic soundness of the
Pope's directive and  the untimely death of the Pope three weeks  later led the composer to write a  Mass since known as
The pope Marcellus Mass.

Pope Pius IV had organized the Council of Trent to survey the practices of musicians in the various churches to determine
whether the plain  song ought to be the only acceptable music.  A false legend has arisen that the  Council listened to The
Pope Marcellus Mass and  thereby decided that polyphonic settings  of the Mass could be used without obscuring the text.
The title  "Palestrina Saviour of  Church Music" was  devised from this legend.  Undoubtedly  the Council  did hear some of
the works of Palestrina, but officially they did little more than reiterate the statements of Pope Marcellus.

Pope Paul IV succeeded Marcellus and started a reform  within the laws and rules of the church.  he was surprised to then
discover  that three  married men,  including  Palestrina,  served in  the Papal  Choir and they were  immediately released.
Palestrina found a position teaching music at a seminary at the Church of St John Lateran in Rome for four years. Many of
his motets date from these years.

Between the  years 1572 and 1580  an epidemic killed his two sons,  two of his  brothers, and his wife.   Grief-stricken, he
applied for the  priesthood, but before the  year was out, he met the well to do widow of a  successful  furrier and married
her. In addition to managing the details relating to the fur business,  he published before the year  of his second marriage
and his death four books on masses, three books each of motets and madrigals, book of hymns and a book of magnificats.

Palestrina returned to service in the Julian  Chapel under a more  liberal Pope and served  in that capacity  until his death.
One of  his duties  on  his return was  to work  on a revision of  the plain song,  a hopeless task.   He tried  to discover  the
original  melodies in use under  Pope GStevenory and eliminate copyist's  errors and later additions,  but the records were
in such a bad condition that it was impossible to discover the original chants.

The nature of Palestrina final illness is unknown.   His funeral service at St.Peter's was an acknowledgement of his stature
in the musical world. He was buried  under the pavement in the New Chapel which  was later covered over by  the new St.
Peter's Cathedral, then in the process of being built. A later effort to locate Palestrina's remains was unsuccessful.

© From "Music Through the Centuries" by Nick Rossi & Sadie Rafferty.

Last Updated on 2017
By Steven Ritchie

And now for the Music

(2152)"Missa Pape Marcelli (Mass For 6 Voices) Kyrie". Sequenced by Robert Andreas Austin.

(2153)"Missa Pape Marcelli (Mass For 6 Voices) Gloria". Sequenced by Robert Andreas Austin.

(2154)"Missa Pape Marcelli (Mass For 6 Voices) Credo". Sequenced by Robert Andreas Austin.

(2155)"Missa Pape Marcelli (Mass For 6 Voices) Sanctus". Sequenced by Robert Andreas Austin.

(2156)"Missa Pape Marcelli (Mass For 6 Voices) Benedictus". Sequenced by Robert Andreas Austin.

(2157)"Missa Pape Marcelli (Mass For 6 Voices) Agnus Dei I". Sequenced by Robert Andreas Austin.

(2158)"Missa Pape Marcelli (Mass For 6 Voices) Agnus Dei II". Sequenced by Robert Andreas Austin.

Thanks to Emily Gray for the music below. Email (HappyMusician@opendiary.com)

(1875)"Esercizio Sopra La Scala". Sequenced by Emily Gray

(1878)"Ascendo ad Patrem, Motet". Sequenced by Brian M. Ames

(1876)"Alma Redemptors Mater". Sequencer Unknown

(1877)"Voi Mi Poneste in Foco". Sequencer Unknown

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