Background
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was born circa 1525 in Palestrina, near Rome, Italy.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was born circa 1525 in Palestrina, near Rome, Italy.
Between 1537 and 1539 Palestrina studied music at the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. From 1540 to 1544 he studied possibly under Gaudio Mell.
Palestrina's first appointment was as organist and singer of San Agapito in his hometown in 1544. His duties included playing the organ, helping with the choir, and teaching music. His prowess at the church attracted the attention of the bishop, Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, who later became Pope Julius III. In 1551, by favour of Pope Julius HI. , he became magister cantorum (leader of the boy choir school) of the Cappella Giulia at St. Peter's in Rome with a salary of six scudi per month and a house. In 1553 he assumed the position of magister cappellae (leader of the chapel). A year later he published the first book of Masses, dedicated to Pope Julius and beginning with the missa Ecce sacerdos magnus. Palestrina repaid the Pope’s patronage by composing a mass in his honour.
In 1555 Palestrina was hired by the Sistine Chapel, but shortly thereafter the new pope, Paul IV, decided to reinstate the rule of celibacy for anyone working there, and Palestrina and two other married singers were forced to leave. That same year he directed the choir of St. John Lateran, but he resigned in 1560. He then returned to the place of his early training, San Maria Maggiori, and subsequently became director of the Seminario Romano.
In 1562 the Council of Trent censured the prevalent style of ecclesiastical music with extreme severity. It proved to be both a challenge and a stimulus to Palestrina and his contemporaries. Palestrina submitted three masses to Cardinal Carlo Borromeo for approval. The private trial took place in June 1565, and on the 19th of that month the mass was publicly sung at the Sistine Chapel, in presence of Pope Pius IV, who compared its music to that heard by St John in his vision of the New Jerusalem. The volume was dedicated to Philip II of Spain, but the mass was called the Missa Papae Marcelli.
At the invitation of Cardinal Ippolito d’Este he took charge of the music at the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, a popular summer resort near Rome. He was in the Cardinal’s service for four years, at which time he also worked as music master for a newly formed Seminarium Romanum (Roman Seminary).
Palestina's reputation was such that Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II invited him to act as imperial choirmaster in Vienna in 1568, but he declined the offer because of the low salary and a disinclination to leave Rome. Upon the death of Giovanni Animuccia in 1571 Palestrina was re-elected to his appointment at the Cappella Giulia. In 1577–1578 he became deeply involved in the revision of the plainsong repertoire from the Roman Gradual and Antiphoner, a project that he never completed. In acknowledgment of his position as the most celebrated Roman musician, he was given in 1578 the title of master of music at the Vatican Basilica.
In 1586 Pope Sixtus V wished to appoint Palestina musical director of the Pontifical Choir, as successor to Antonio Boccapadule. Boccapadule, however, managed so clumsily that Palestrina was accused of having meanly plotted for his own advancement. The Pope was very angry, and punished the calumniators very severely, but Palestrina lost the appointment.
Pope Gregory XIII had commissioned Palestrina and Annibale Zoilo to restore the plainchant, or plainsong (a traditional liturgical chant sung in unison), then in use to a more authentic form. The task proved too great, and Palestrina’s editorial work gave way to a flow of creative music. Much of it was published during the last 12 years of his life, including volumes of motets (choral compositions based on sacred texts), masses, and madrigals. He also helped to found an association of professional musicians called the Vertuosa Compagnia dei Musici.
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Palestrina was married to Lucrezia Gori. Three sons were born to them: Rodolfo, Angelo, and Iginio. Only the last outlived his father. His two sons died from the plague 1575. In 1580 his wife Lucrezia died in the third outbreak of the plague. A later year he married Virginia Dormoli, the wealthy widow of a furrier.