Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Essay Example

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Research Paper of Introduction In northern Europe music had been gaining shape, vitality, and natural harmony; however in southern Europe, mostly in Italy, known for its artistic and poetic standards, it was to flourish and create astonishing beauty and grandeur. The school of music in Rome led the way. Leading among the personalities which raised the Roman school into its grandest fame is Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, without a doubt the best musician of the 16th century, and, throughout that period, the best master in the history of music. Palestrina was named after the Roman town of Palestrina where he was born. Sante was his family name (Pyne, 2008). Palestrina dedicated much of his time and effort to teaching, and was basically the founding father of Rome’s Italian school of composition. Perhaps the credit should be given to Goudimel, Palestrina’s teacher, though in the past the aged Roman school is strongly associated with the name of Palestrina (Ferris, 2008). This research paper discusses the life and works of one of the greatest composers in the history of music, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. The Life There are very few available historical documents that recount the childhood of Palestrina, but by 1537 he became a choirboy in Rome. He returned to Palestrina in 1544 and became an organist and choirmaster in the town’s church. The previous bishop of Palestrina, Pope Julius III, chose Palestrina to be the chapel master in St. Peter’s in 1511 (Tapper & Goetschius, 2001). The first known work of Palestrina was a compilation of four masses in 1554. These proved the skill of Palestrina in polyphony and counterpoint, and gained his status as the leading composer of holy songs in Rome (Tapper & Goetschius, 2001). However, Pope Paul IV felt obliged to discharge Palestrina from the convention, primarily because Palestrina was married. Nevertheless, he still became St. John’s chapel master; he also became the chapel master at Santa Maria Maggiore in 1561; and he was at last placed back in his previous post at the Vatican in 1571 (Sarti, 2009). Palestrina passed away in 1594. The music of Palestrina should be analyzed within the framework of the catholic reformation happening during his composition days. Before Palestrina, songs used in churches had a tendency to wander away from the religious doctrine that it was founded upon; it usually espouses its own ideals, more for amusement than encouragement. The Council of Trent even tried to get rid of music from religious practice on the whole, until the recital of Missa Papae Marcelli in 1565 by Palestrina, dedicated to Pope Marcellus II, persuaded the pope and the cardinals that music may comply with religious principles suggested by the council (Sarti, 2009). Palestrina agreed to revise the plainchant tests of the church in 1577 in compliance to the council’s mandates. The difficult financial conditions of the later life of Palestrina were eased by his second marriage to a rich woman in 1581. He kept on composing until his death, producing a huge number of hymns, motets, and masses (Tapper & Goetschius, 2001). Palestrina endowed church songs with a new rhythm and vigor, one that was sacred, lively, and inspiring, a lot to the improvement of Catholic sacrament. The Works Palestrina, similar to all those who are fated to become outstanding musicians, was for some time a devoted adherent of his forerunners. Yet, he was endowed with remarkably greater flair, a wider and fuller knowledge, and musical intuitions of great variety and power. Hence, he eventually rose above the boundaries which the art of music had attained at that time, and produced a string of masterpieces that were and remains to be the objects of adoration and awe. The reasonable protest that had been expressed by numerous of the clergy against particular violations that had infiltrated religious music, and the protest in support of an enhancement and, specifically, an abridging of its nature, reached its peak early in Palestrina’s achievements (Taruskin, 2009). An attempt was initiated to take out the purported florid or figural form of counterpoint from the church, due to the problems which accompanied its interpretation and recital, and to go back to the plain traditional choral chant, as the better, more suitable, and valuable practice of musical veneration (Taruskin, 2009). A decision had to be made, and Palestrina was then tasked to show the workability of an incomplete return to the simple form and to make an accommodation which would save the educational form from its endangered repression. Historic documents vary, but it appears possible that Palestrina was instructed in 1565 to produce a mass which may function as an enduring form of religious music. Nevertheless, it is not improbable that Palestrina was personally concerned about the conflict and that his intellect foretold the preferred reform (Ferris, 2008). He was personally prevented by numerous features of the continuously progressing contrapuntal techniques, and he foresaw that it would be vital, in due course, to stop the progress of ‘modernism,’ which was a danger to the art of music. And his unique musical composition and genuine talent endowed him the ability to deal with the crisis as perhaps no contemporary of his may have done. Palestrina produced not just a single mass, as claimed, but three, the third of which received praises and passionate appreciation way beyond the hopes of its humble composer (Pyne, 2008). In the third mass, the sentiments and passions which prevail in the Catholic ritual found its voice in the most passionate and righteous expression of Palestrina’s music. Through the plainness and sincerity of the methods used, and the equally absolute handling of conventional contrapuntal method, this mass satisfied every requirement of an extraordinary and genuinely exquisite religious form (Tapper & Goetschius, 2001). Palestrina wrote this mass in commemoration of his previous sponsor, Pope Marcellus II, thus it was given the famous name, Miss Papa Marcelli. The masterpieces of Palestrina signify the outcomes of a lengthy and hard-working life dedicated quite wholly to the service of religious music. They comprise 14 volumes of masses; numerous volumes of lamentations, magnificats, hymns, litanies, offertories, and motettes; and two volumes of madrigals (Tapper & Goetschius, 2001). In 1554, the earliest compilation of masses was written. It expresses all the most remarkable features of traditional counterpoint without indicating salient novelty. The improperia written in 1559 are much more important and demonstrate Palestrina’s thoughts about the chord, which he draws upon with fair restraint, but also with better creativity, solemnity, and grandeur (Sarti, 2009). Another remarkable work of Palestrina is the hymns, lamentations, and a stabat mater. Nevertheless, it is Palestrina’s masses that seems to be connected to the absolute splendor of his talent. Pride and sincerity are felt in his masses, the kind of plainness accompanied with boundless control of contrapuntal methods, which confirm his position as the best musician in the history of music (Sarti, 2009). Palestrina witnessed his masterpieces played with awe and veneration far and wide, and heard the method which he had developed and named after his own: Stile alla Palestrina (Ferris, 2008). It is an important proof of his genuine and continuing exceptionality that after hundreds of years of continuous development in musical art, and despite the wealthy and creative music of the modern period, humanity does not disprove this genius. A certain uniqueness of his method—the strict diatonic nature of his melodic sequences, the direct progression of basic triads in stepwise sequence, the strict form of his cadence, sound quite difficult and odd to modern listeners; but the frequent a listener hears any of his Palestrina’s masterpieces and the more the listener go through their deepest features and value the omnipresent, stunning unity between expression, emotion, and insight, the more the listener is astounded with their great clarity, truthfulness, and innate power (Sarti, 2009). It is never simple to select an illustration of Palestrina’s work which will offer even a slight idea of the exquisiteness and splendor of his technique. Luckily, numerous of his works are now available in written form that the music enthusiast can simply acquire numerous distinct samples of his music (Taruskin, 2009). Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the greatest composer of the Italian Polyphonic schools is deserving of worldwide respect and admiration, more due to his contribution to ecclesiastical music than his influence on the new musical school which was merely in its early years at the time. Palestrina, although familiar with Neri, the creator of Oratorio, and Galilei, the innovator of Opera, and with numerous of the personalities associated with the new form of instrumental and vocal music, devoted his whole life to the writing of ecclesiastic music (Tapper & Goetschius, 2001), even though in his destitute situation musical vocation for rich patrons must have frequently attracted him. Conclusions In any event, the furthermost he ever wandered away from the church was in the writing of numerous madrigals, wherein he stood out; it is practically definite that in these he by accident contributed to the formation of instrumental music. Nevertheless, a closer look at his life and contribution to ecclesiastical music is more essential. Palestrina, by the huge quantity of his masses and by the lushness of his masterpieces, placed ecclesiastical music on a pedestal that no musician or composer even drew near to him, much less successfully rivaled him. References Ferris, G. (2008). Great Italian and French Composers. UK: Echo Library. Pyne, Z.K. (2008). Palestrina: His Life and Times. New York: Thomson Press. Sarti, R. (2009). Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present. New York: Infobase Publishing. Tapper, T. & Goetschius, P. (2001). Essentials in Music History. Honolulu, Hawaii: The Minerva Group, Inc. Taruskin, R. (2009). Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century: The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More