Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da

views updated

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

December 27, 1525
Palestrina, Italy
February 2, 1594
Rome, Italy

Composer

The Italian musician Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was the foremost composer of the sixteenth century. His sacred works represent one of the great achievements of Renaissance music. The Renaissance was a cultural movement which began in Italy in the mid-1300s. It was initiated by scholars called humanists who promoted the human-centered values of ancient Greece and Rome. Humanist ideals were soon influencing the arts, literature, philosophy, science, religion, and politics in Italy.

Begins as choir master

Born Giovanni Pierluigi, the composer adopted the name of his native town, Palestrina, which is located near Rome. Little is known about his early life, though it is assumed that at the age of seven he was a choir singer at the church of Saint Agapit in Palestrina. Records show that he was a member of the choir at the basilica (church) of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome in 1537. Palestrina served at the basilica until his nineteenth birthday. During this time he probably received musical training from Jacques Arcadelt (c. 1505–1568). In 1544 Palestrina returned to his native town as organist and singing master at the local church. During the next six years he married, fathered the first of his three sons, and began composing. Most important for his future career was the attention given his music by the new bishop of Palestrina, Giovanni del Monte (1487–1555). Del Monte became Pope Julius III in 1550 (reigned 1550–55), and the following year he appointed Palestrina choirmaster of the Julian Chapel at Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

All singers in this choir traditionally were unmarried, and they were admitted only after rigorous examination. Since the pope had ignored these requirements, Palestrina's appointment was viewed with little enthusiasm. In 1554 Palestrina published his first book of masses (music that accompanies the Catholic communion service) and dedicated it to Julius. The following year he was promoted to singer in the pope's choir. When Julius died the following year, Pope Paul IV (1476–1559; reigned 1555–59) enforced the celibacy rule (the requirement that musicians be unmarried) as part of the Catholic Reformation (a reform movement within the Roman Catholic Church) and dismissed Palestrina from Julian Chapel. The pope then appointed Palestrina choirmaster at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, where he remained until 1560. For the next six years Palestrina held posts at various other churches. From 1566 to 1570 he was music director for Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509–1572), an outstanding patron of the arts. In 1571 Palestrina was reappointed choirmaster at the Julian Chapel. Seven years later he was given the title of master of music at Saint Peter's, a position he held for the rest of his life.

Known as "Prince of Music"

Palestrina's works included the major types of late Renaissance music: masses, motets (vocal works based on sacred texts, sometimes accompanied by instruments), and madrigals (short vocal works based on poems). He wrote 105 masses and 250 motets, but madrigals played a small role in his compositions because he was primarily interested in sacred music. Using original techniques, he frequently adapted polyphony (two or more melodies forming harmony) to such traditional forms as plainsong (early Christian chants), hymns, and biblical texts. He often created as many as eight interwoven parts in counterpoint, or separate melodies sung above or below a main melody. Yet Palestrina had a carefully controlled, sensitive style that adhered closely to his chosen text and lacked the drama of music by other composers at the time. His religious compositions, especially the masses, were of such high quality that he was called the "Prince of Music." Palestrina's most famous mass was Missa Papae Marcelli, which he dedicated to Pope Marcellus II (1501–1555; reigned 1555) in 1555.

Palestrina is also known as the creator of the oratorio. It is a lengthy religious choral work that features recitatives (singing that resembles speaking), arias (vocal solos), and choruses without action or scenery. He composed oratorios for a Catholic group called the Oratorian congregation in Rome. The organization was founded by the Italian priest and reformer Philip Neri (Filiippo Romolo de' Neri; 1515–1595). Neri made friends easily, and in the late 1550s he began meeting regularly with some of them in his room, the "Oratory," at the church of San Girolamo della Carità. Neri dreaded formality and loved spontaneity. He gave his little groups a definite character with Scripture readings, short commentaries, brief prayers, and hymns. Palestrina set many of the scriptural texts to music, creating the "oratorio"—named for Neri's room, the Oratory—a form of musical presentation that is still popular today.

Did he "save" music?

Palestrina wrote his works during a period of change in the Roman Catholic Church. From 1545 to 1565, the church held a series of meetings called the Council of Trent. The purpose of the council was to initiate reforms at every level of religious life. A frequent topic of discussion was simplifying the music used in the liturgy, or church service. Some officials even suggested totally eliminating polyphonic music because it was too elaborate and secular, or nonreligious, and distracted from the solemnity of the worship service. In 1562 the council issued a canon, or church law stating that all secular matter must be removed from liturgical music. While music should be pleasing to the ear, it must also be simple and direct, having no embellishments that would interfere with an understanding of the text. Historians have speculated that Palestrina composed his masses to fit the reformers' requirements. An example is the Missa Papae Marcelli. According to one story, Palestrina "saved the art of music" with this work by dedicating it to Marcellus, who advocated reform. There seems to be no evidence that Palestrina deliberately modified his compositions, however, for scholars point out that he never showed any real interest in highly dramatic or experimental sacred music. It is known, though, that Palestrina's works were performed for, and approved by, Cardinal Carlo Borromeo (1538–1584). Borromeo was charged with making certain that liturgical music was free of secular tunes and unintelligible texts.

Palestrina was also consulted on musical matters by church officials. In a papal order of 1577, Palestrina and a colleague, Annibale Zoilo, were directed to revise the GradualeRomanum, the list of liturgical music used by the church. Their job was to purge all of the secular tunes that had accumulated over the centuries. Palestrina never did complete this laborious task. A new list, the Medicean Gradual, was released in the early seventeenth century. Although it is sometimes thought to be Palestrina's work, it was actually compiled by others. Since the Renaissance, Palestrina has been regarded as one of the foremost composers of sacred music. Yet his reputation suffered somewhat at the end of the nineteenth century, when his works were reduced to a set of composition "rules" by music teachers at academies and universities. Subsequent generations of young composers thus produced "Palestrinian" music that failed to meet the standards of free expression that the master achieved in his own compositions.

Orlando di Lasso

An important Renaissance composer was Orlando di Lasso (c. 1530–1594). He was born in Mons, a city in present-day Belgium. Lasso spent most of his career in Italy and at the chapel of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. A far more dramatic composer than his Italian contemporary Palestrina, Lasso wrote in every musical form and in a wide variety of styles.

Lasso was committed to the idea that music should heighten and convey the meaning of a text. Although he did not compose instrumental music, he excelled in all musical forms of his day—motets, masses, magnificats (music based on the song of Mary in the book of Luke from the Bible), madrigals, and songs. The most famous and admired composer in Europe in the late sixteenth century, Lasso was hailed early in his career as "prince of music" and "le divin Orlande" (divine Orlando). He was known for his talent for expressing the meaning of words in music. In fact, his music can be understood only in the context of the words that it so vividly presents. He accomplished this by a variety of means, sometimes through sudden changes in rhythm, melody, or harmony. Lasso rarely experimented with the latest musical trends, so by the end of his life, his style was overtaken by newer techniques. Nevertheless, he was the first great composer whose fame was spread by printed music. During his lifetime and soon after his death, more than six hundred publications featured his music. That is, between 1555 and 1595 a composition by Lasso appeared in print on the average of once a month in France, Italy, the Low Countries, or the German empire.