Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594) was born in the small town from which he took his name. he obtained his early musical training as a chorister at S. Maria Maggiore in Rome, continuing his studies in the eternal city until his appointment as organist of the Cathedral of S. Agapito in his home town of Palestrina. In 1547 he married Lucrezia Gori by whom he had three sons, Rodolfo, Angelo and Iginio.

Three years after his appointment to the Cathedral, his Bishop, Cardinal Giovanni Maria del Monte was eleted to the Papacy, taking the name of Julius III. He summoned Palestrina to Rome in 1551, to take charge of the Cappella Giulia, the official choir of St. Peter's, and a training school for young native musicians. In 1555 he became a member of the Pope's own musical establishment, the Cappella Sistina, an appointment that was to last but a few months: Julius III, Palestrina's patron, died three months later, andthe reign of his successor, Marcellus II, was to last only a few weeks. The reforming Pope Paul IV pensioned off Palestrina and two other members of the Sistine Choir, because they were married, and it was considered necessary that all members of the Cappella should be celibate. Palestrina then accepted the post of maestro di cappella of St. John of the Lateran, a post from which he resigned in 1560 to take up a similar but more congenial post at S Maria Maggiore.

In 1564 he agreed to take charge of the music at the country estate of Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este at Tivoli, returning in 1571 to the Cappella Giulia, this time as its director. The next few years brought the composer much sadness, because of an outbreak of the plague, which caused the death of his brother, wife and two of his sons. He thought for a moment that he might seek ordination to the priesthood, and even went so far as to receive the tonsure. However, he finally decided against such a course, and remarrie instead, his second wife Virginia Dormoli, being the rich widow of a successful furrier. Palestrina entered into partnership with one of the men in his wife's business, and made such a success of it, that during the last years of his life, he was able to publishsixteen collections of his own music.

His works include 104 masses, 375 motets, 68 offertories, 65 hymn settings, 35 settings of the Magnificat and 4 or 5 settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. His secular compositions include over 140 madrigals. Palestrina is famousfor being the only composer to have been named officially by the Church as a model for the composition of sacred music for liturgical use. This is becauseof its perfect marriage with the sacred text which has inspired it, and which, in its turn, it informs. it is music deeply rooted in Gregorian chant, and the smooth beauty and flow of its interweaving lines are a perfect match for the noble dignity of that music itself. To quote Richard Wagner, the music of Palestrina "paints a picture almost as timeless as it is without space, a spiritual revelation throughout that arouses unspeakable emotion, bringing us nearer than aught else to the essential nature of religion."