PALESTRINA Giovanni Pierluigi da

PALESTRINA Giovanni Pierluigi da, Italian Renaissance composer (c. 1525, Palestrina, Lazio, Italy - 2 February 1594, Rome, Italy).

Palestrina is the most famous representative of the Roman school of church music composition in the 16th century, his work is considered the pinnacle of Renaissance polyphony. He started playing music at the age of seven. First, he sang in the choir of St. Agapita in Palestrina, and in 1537 in the choir of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. When Cardinal Giovanni del Monte (Bishop of St. Agapito) became Pope Julius III in 1550, he brought Pierluigi with him to Rome as the leader of the Cappella Giulia choir in St. Peter's Basilica. In 1554, Palestrina wrote the first collection of masses and dedicated it to the Pope. As a reward, the Pope accepted him into the choir of the Sistine Chapel. He became chaplain at the Basilica of Saint John in Lateran, where he remained until 1561.

Palestrina wrote hundreds of compositions: 105 masses, some of which are still performed today, 68 oratorios, about 140 madrigals and more than 307 motets. In 1584, he published the collection Canticum canticorum - a collection of motets. He published two collections of madrigals with secular texts, one in 1555 and the other in 1586. He wrote and published most of the masses in thirteen volumes between 1554 and 1601, the last seven being published after his death. Among the most important works are the Mass Missa Papae Marcelli and the eight-voice Stabat Mater to the text of Jacopone da Todi.