Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (between 3 February 1525 and 2 February 1526 – 2 February 1594)[n 1] was an Italian composer of lateRenaissance music. The central representative of theRoman School, withOrlande de Lassus andTomás Luis de Victoria, Palestrina is considered the leading composer of late 16th-century Europe.[1] Palestrina was one of the few Renaissance composers never entirely forgotten, but it was the so-called "Palestrinian style" of counterpoint—especially as codified byJohann Joseph Fux—rather than his individual compositions that exerted the greatest influence.[2]
Primarily known for his masses and motets, which number over 105 and 250 respectively,[3] Palestrina had a long-lasting influence on the development of church and secular music in Europe, especially on the development ofcounterpoint.[4] According toGrove Music Online, Palestrina's "success in reconciling the functional and aesthetic aims of Catholic church music in thepost-Tridentine period earned him an enduring reputation as the ideal Catholic composer, as well as giving his style (or, more precisely, later generations' selective view of it) an iconic stature as a model of perfect achievement."[1]
Palestrina was born in the town ofPalestrina, near Rome, then part of thePapal States, to Neapolitan parents, Santo and Palma Pierluigi, in 1525, possibly on 3 February. His mother died on 16 January 1536, when Palestrina was 10. Documents suggest that he first visited Rome in 1537, when he was listed as a chorister at theBasilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of thepapal basilicas of theDiocese of Rome, which allowed him to learn literature and music.[5] In 1540, he moved to Rome, where he studied in the school of the HuguenotClaude Goudimel.[5] He also studied withRobin Mallapert andFirmin Lebel. He spent most of his career in the city.
Palestrina came of age as a musician under the influence of the northern European style ofpolyphony, which owed its dominance in Italy primarily to two influentialNetherlandish composers,Guillaume Du Fay andJosquin 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.[4]Orlando di Lasso, who accompanied Palestrina in his early years, also played an important role in the formation of his style as an adviser.[5]
From 1544 to 1551, Palestrina was the organist of theCathedral of St. Agapito, the principal church of his native city. In 1551Pope Julius III (previously theBishop of Palestrina) appointed Palestrinamaestro di cappella or musical director of theCappella Giulia,[6] (Julian Chapel, in the sense of choir), the choir of the chapter ofcanons atSt. Peter's Basilica. Palestrina dedicated to Julius III his first published compositions (1554), a book ofMasses. 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 theLow Countries, France, or Spain.[7] In fact the book was modelled on one byCristóbal de Morales: thewoodcut in the front is almost an exact copy of the one from the book by the Spanish composer.
In 1555,Pope Paul IV ordered that all papal choristers should be clerical. As Palestrina married early in life and had four children, he was unable to continue in the chapel as alayman.[5]
During the next decade, Palestrina held positions similar to his Julian Chapel appointment at other chapels and churches in Rome, notably theArchbasilica of Saint John Lateran (1555–1560, a post previously held byLassus), and Santa Maria Maggiore (1561–1566). In 1571 he returned to the Julian Chapel and remained at St 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, Lucrezia Gori, 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, Virginia Dormoli. This finally gave him financial independence (he was not paid well as choirmaster) and he was able to compose prolifically until his death.
He died in Rome ofpleurisy 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 inscribedIoannes Petrus Aloysius Praenestinus Musicæ Princeps.[8] A five-partLibera me Domine psalm for three choirs was sung at the funeral.[9] Palestrina's funeral was held at St. Peter's, and he was buried beneath the floor of the basilica. His tomb was later covered by new construction and attempts to locate his grave have been unsuccessful.
Palestrina left hundreds of compositions, including 105masses, 68offertories, at least 140madrigals and more than 300motets. In addition, there are at least 72hymns, 35magnificats, 11litanies, and four or five sets oflamentations.[4] TheGloria melody from Palestrina'sMagnificat Tertii Toni (1591) is widely used today in the resurrection hymn tune,Victory (The Strife Is O'er).[10]
His attitude toward madrigals was somewhat enigmatic: whereas in the preface to his collection ofCanticum canticorum (Song of Songs) motets (1584) he renounced the setting of profane texts, only two years later he was back in print with Book II of his secular madrigals (some of these being among the finest compositions in the medium).[4] He published just two collections of madrigals with profane texts, one in 1555 and another in 1586.[4] The other two collections were spiritual madrigals, a genre beloved by the proponents of the Counter-Reformation.[4]
Palestrina's masses show how his compositional style developed over time.[4] HisMissa sine nomine seems to have been particularly attractive toJohann Sebastian Bach, who studied and performed it while writing theMass in B minor.[11] Most of Palestrina's masses appeared in thirteen volumes printed between 1554 and 1601, the last seven published after his death.[4][12]
Missa Papae Marcelli – Kyrie
One of his most important works, theMissa Papae Marcelli (Pope Marcellus Mass) has been historically associated with erroneous information involving the Council of Trent. According to this tale (which forms the basis ofHans Pfitzner's operaPalestrina), it was composed in order to persuade theCouncil of Trent that a draconian ban on thepolyphonic treatment of text in sacred music (as opposed, that is, to a more directly intelligible homophonic treatment) was unnecessary.[13] However, more recent scholarship shows that this mass was in fact composed before the cardinals convened to discuss the ban (possibly as much as 10 years before).[13] Historical data indicates that the Council of Trent, as an official body, never actually banned any church music and failed to make any ruling or official statement on the subject. These stories originated from the unofficial points-of-view of some Council attendees who discussed their ideas with those not privy to the council's deliberations. Those opinions and rumors have, over centuries, been transmuted into fictional accounts, put into print, and often incorrectly taught as historical fact. While Palestrina's compositional motivations are not known, he may have been quite conscious of the need for intelligible text; however, this was not to conform with any doctrine of theCounter-Reformation,[13] because no such doctrine exists. His characteristic style remained consistent from the 1560s until the end of his life. Roche's hypothesis that Palestrina's seemingly dispassionate approach to expressive or emotive texts could have resulted from his having to produce many to order, or from a deliberate decision that any intensity of expression was unbecoming in church music,[4] reflects modern expectations about expressive freedom and underestimates the extent to which the mood of Palestrina's settings is adapted to the liturgical occasions for which the texts were set, rather than the line-by-line meaning of the text, and depends on the distinctive characters of thechurch modes and variations in vocal grouping for expressive effect. Performing editions and recordings of Palestrina have tended to favour his works in the more familiar modes and standard (SATB) voicings, under-representing the expressive variety of his settings.
There are two comprehensive editions of Palestrina's works: a 33-volume edition published by Breitkopf and Härtel, inLeipzig Germany between 1862 and 1894 edited byFranz Xaver Haberl, and a 34-volume edition published in the mid twentieth century, by Fratelli Scalera, in Rome, Italy edited byR. Casimiri and others.
Portrait of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, 16th century
One of the hallmarks of Palestrina's music is thatdissonances are typically relegated to the"weak" beats in a measure.[14] This produced a smoother and moreconsonant type ofpolyphony which is now considered to be definitive of late Renaissance music, given Palestrina's position as Europe's leading composer in the wake ofJosquin des Prez (d. 1521).
The "Palestrina style" taught in college courses covering Renaissancecounterpoint is often based on the codification by the 18th-century composer and theoristJohann Joseph Fux, published asGradus ad Parnassum (Steps to Parnassus, 1725). Citing Palestrina as his model, Fux divided counterpoint into fivespecies (hence the term "species counterpoint"), designed as exercises for the student, which deployed progressively more elaborate rhythmic combinations of voices while adhering to strict harmonic and melodic requirements. The method was widely adopted and was the main basis of contrapuntal training in the 19th century, but Fux had introduced a number of simplifications to the Palestrina style, notably the obligatory use of acantus firmus insemibreves, which were corrected by later authors such asKnud Jeppesen andR. O. Morris. Palestrina's music conforms in many ways to Fux's rules, particularly in the fifth species but does not fit his pedagogical format.
The main insight, that the "pure" style of polyphony achieved by Palestrina followed an invariable set of stylistic and combinational requirements, was justified. Fux's manual was endorsed by his contemporaryJ.S. Bach, who himself arranged two of Palestrina's masses for performance.
According to Fux, Palestrina had established and followed these basic guidelines:
The flow of music is dynamic, not rigid or static.
Melody should contain few leaps between notes. (Jeppesen: "The line is the starting point of Palestrina's style".)[14]
If a leap occurs, it must be small and immediately countered by stepwise motion in the opposite direction.
Dissonances are to be confined to suspensions, passing notes and weak beats. If one falls on a strong beat (in a suspension) it must be immediately resolved.
Fux omits to mention the manner in which the musical phrasing of Palestrina followed thesyntax of the sentences he was setting to music, something not always observed by earlier composers. Also to be noticed in Palestrina is a great deal oftone painting. Elementary examples of this are descending musical motion with Latin words likedescendit (descends) or of a static musical or cadential moment with the wordsde coelis (from heaven).[15]
Palestrina, presenting his masses to PopeJulius III, 1554
Palestrina was extremely famous in his day, and if anything, his reputation and influence increased after his death.J.S. Bach studied and hand-copied Palestrina's first book ofMasses, and in 1742wrote his own adaptation of the Kyrie and Gloria of theMissa sine nomine.[16]Felix Mendelssohn placed him in the pantheon of the greatest musicians, writing, "I always get upset when some praise only Beethoven, others only Palestrina and still others only Mozart or Bach. All four of them, I say, or none at all."[17]
Much research on Palestrina was done in the 19th century byGiuseppe Baini, who published a monograph in 1828 which made Palestrina famous again and reinforced the already existing legend that he was the "Saviour of Church Music" during the reforms of theCouncil of Trent.[12]
20th and 21st century scholarship by and large retains the view that Palestrina was a strong and refined composer whose music represents a summit of technical perfection.[4] Contemporary analysis highlighted the modern qualities in the compositions of Palestrina such as research of color and sonority, use of sonic grouping in large-scale setting, interest in vertical as well as horizontal organization, studied attention to text setting. These unique characteristics, together with effortless delivery and an indefinable "otherness", constitute to this day the attraction of Palestrina's work.[18]
The operaPalestrina byHans Pfitzner depicts Palestrina working to preserve polyphony during the Council of Trent.
The Cagliari music conservatory inCagliari, Italy is named in his honor.
^Christoph Wolff,Der Stile Antico in der Musik Johann Sebastian Bachs: Studien zu Bachs Spätwerk (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1968), pp. 224–225.
^abJames Garrat,Palestrina and the German Romantic Imagination (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
^abcJohn Bokina,Opera and Politics (New York: Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 129–131.
^abKnud Jeppesen,Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the Sixteenth Century, trans. Glen Haydon (with a new foreword by Alfred Mann; New York: Prentice-Hall, 1939, repr. New York: Dover, 1992).
^Georgiades, Thrasybulos (1974).Music and Language The Rise of Western Music as Exemplified in Settings of the Mass. Cambridge University Press.
Gauldin, Robert (1995).A Practical Approach to Sixteenth-Century Counterpoint. Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc.ISBN978-0-88133-852-2.
Haigh, Andrew C. (1957). "Modal Harmony in the Music of Palestrina".Essays on Music: In Honor of Archibald Thompson Davison. Cambridge:Harvard University Press. pp. 111–120.
Jeppesen, Knud (1946).The Style of Palestrina and the Dissonance (2nd ed.). London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Meier, Bernhard (1988).The Modes of Classical Vocal Polyphony, Described According to the Sources. New York: Broude Brothers Limited.ISBN978-0-8450-7025-3.
