Palestrina had a vast impact on the development of music. Hugely famous in his day, his reputation and influence grew even more following his death and his work can be seen as a summation of Renaissance polyphony. His musical legacy is prodigious even by the standards of the time—he wrote over 100 masses—and he was the first Renaissance composer to have a complete edition of almost his whole output published in modern notation. The eighth recording in The Sixteen’s celebrated series focuses on the Last Supper and the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross at the first Easter and includes the Missa Fratres ego enim accepi. Three settings from the Song of Songs also feature.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Palestrina: Great Choral Classics

Missa Papae Marcelli, or Pope Marcellus Mass, is a mass by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. It is his most well-known and most often-performed mass, and is frequently taught in university courses on music. It was always[citation needed] sung at the Papal Coronation Mass (the last being the coronation of Paul VI in 1963). The Missa Papae Marcelli consists, like most Renaissance masses, of a Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus/Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, though the third part of the Agnus Dei is a separate movement (designated "Agnus II").The mass is freely composed, not based upon a cantus firmus or parody. Perhaps because of this, the mass is not as thematically consistent as Palestrina's masses based on models. It is primarily a six-voice mass, but voice combinations are varied throughout the piece; Palestrina scores Agnus II for seven voices, and the use of the full forces is reserved for specific climactic portions in the text. It is set primarily in a homorhythmic, declamatory style, with little overlapping of text and a general preference for block chords such that the text can clearly be heard in performance, unlike many polyphonic masses of the 16th century. As in much of Palestrina's contrapuntal work, voices move primarily in stepwise motion, and the voice leading strictly follows the rules of the diatonic modes codified by theorist Gioseffo Zarlino.

PALESTRINA: Missa 'Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La' / VICTORIA: Salv

Choral Music (Sacred) - PALESTRINA, G.P. da / JOSQUIN DES PR

The Primo Libro di Madrigali a quatro voci was, chronologically speaking, the second work published by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. On the publication’s title page the composer refers to himself as «Cantore nella Cappella di N[ostro] S[ignore]», a title which in Rome at that time represented the highest position to which a musician might aspire. The highly regarded Concerto Italiano and their founder-director Rinaldo Alessandrini perform these light, lovely and expressive secular songs from the Renaissance’s greatest sacred music composer.

Palestrina’s music is exquisite and sumptuous — characterised by a richness of texture and purity of sound. From his sacred Masses to settings of the secular Song of Songs, The Sixteen brings this serene and delicate soundworld to sparkling life.

Palestrina was a towering figure in Renaissance polyphony and arguably the greatest composer of liturgical music of all time. For nearly half a millennium his legacy and impact on sacred music worldwide has been second to none. The Sixteen continues its acclaimed series exploring a selection of his massive output, with this volume featuring the richly sonorous Missa Ut re mi fa sol la at its heart. The Sixteen also shines a spotlight on some of the glorious music Palestrina wrote for St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist.

With this new release, The Sixteen continues its exploration of Palestrina’s great art with the eagerly anticipated seventh album in the series which includes the Missa Ave Regina caelorum. Palestrina is perhaps the most famous of all Renaissance composers, certainly by name. By the time of his death his reputation outshone all others. His musical legacy is prodigious even by the standards of the time- he wrote over 100 masses- and he was the first Renaissance composer to have a complete edition of almost his whole output published in modern notation. Today some pieces are quite familiar, others less so and much of his superb music is almost unknown. The seventh recording in The Sixteen’s celebrated series focuses on some of the pivotal women in Christian history- Mary the Mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, St. Barbara, and Susannah.

"The Sixteen's Palestrina cycle may just be a classic in the making." Harry Christophers and The Sixteen continue their exploration of Palestrina's great work with the fifth disc in their celebrated series. This album features a selection of Palestrina's music for Pentecost including his Missa Iam Christus astra ascenderat. Alongside the Mass are motets from the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs are among some of Palestrina's most sublime and expressive works and, as with previous disc in the series, this album includes three of them. Dedicated to Pope Gregory XIII, Palestrina's style of writing for these sensual texts demonstrates what variety and intensity of feeling can be conveyed with the simplest of means.

"A CLASSIC IN THE MAKING." GRAMOPHONE ON THE SIXTEEN'S PALESTRINA SERIES THE SIXTEEN RELEASES THE FOURTH ALBUM IN ITS ACCLAIMED SERIES A towering figure in Renaissance polyphony, Palestrina is arguably one of the greatest composers of liturgical music of all time. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen continue their exploration of his work with the fourth disc in their celebrated series. This album features a selection of Palestrina's music for Christmas including his largely unknown masterpiece, the Missa O magnum mysterium. Also presented are several unusual hymn settings amongst them A solis ortu cardine--a setting of a chant hymn for Christmas morning. Among composers, Palestrina is unusual in setting this hymn for Lauds on the Feast of Nativity. Most composers reserved their efforts for the more important celebrations of Vespers. The text, written by Caelius Sedulius, is itself unusual in that the verses begin with successive letters of the alphabet. Alongside the hymns are motets from the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs are among some of Palestrina's most sublime and expressive works and, as with previous disc in the series, this album includes three of them. Dedicated to Pope Gregory XIII, Palestrina's style of writing for these sensual texts demonstrates what variety and intensity of feeling can be conveyed with the simplest of means. Completing this recording are three double-choir motets (a genre in which Palestrina was unsurpassed), Ave Regina, Iubilate Deo and Surge illuminare.

A towering figure in Renaissance polyphony, Palestrina is arguably one of the greatest composers of Liturgical music of all time. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen continue their exploration of his work with a disc of music for the Easter period. Many of the works on this new recording celebrate the joyful part of Easter - the Resurrection - and the central mass on this disc is the wonderfully inspired Missa Regina caeli. The Mass is based on the well-known, immediately recognisable, plainchant Antiphon Regina caeli and the recording also includes the 8-voice motet of the same name. As with volumes 1 and 2 this disc also includes three of Palestrina's settings of the Song of Songs alongside three offertories for the Easter period and the hymn Ad caenam agni providi. This disc would not be complete, however, without the exquisite 8-voice Stabat Mater - possibly Palestrina's most famous piece in current times and a work that emphasises the other side of the Easter story - the agony and pain of the Crucifixion.

PALESTRINA Missa Hodie Christus natus est. Hodie Christus natus est. Christe Redemptor omnium Ex Patre. Magnificat 5 toni. Tui sunt caeli. Reges Tharsis. O magnum mysterium. Song of Songs: Excerpts • Harry Christophers, cond; The Sixteen • CORO COR 16105 (67:34 Text and Translation)


This is the second issue in the recently announced series of Palestrina works ( Fanfare 35:2). In what is clearly a pattern, this disc also offers a Mass with its related motet, additional motets related to the theme of the Mass, and three more sections of the Song of Songs. Just as the first disc added Marian motets to the Mass for the feast of the Assumption, this Mass is filled out with Christmas motets. The hymn Christe Redemptor omnium is an alternatim setting, as is the Magnificat. The Mass is one of four double-choir Masses first published together in 1601, the only such settings among the composer’s 105 Masses. This is at least the seventh recording of the Mass but the first in almost two decades. The most recent were directed by Jeremy Summerly with a large choir (18:1) and by Paul McCreesh with a vocal ensemble (not reviewed in the States); earlier examples were mostly choral renditions. Christophers’s tempos fall midway between those two versions. The most notable difference among the three versions comes in the Agnus Dei, which I presume was set once by the composer; McCreesh surrounds the single invocation with chant from Mass XVII for the first and last invocations, Summerly renders the music twice, supplying the altered text for the final invocation, as I would expect a Renaissance-era choir to do, and Christophers simply provides the single invocation as printed.


The promise of the first disc is fulfilled here with an exquisite rendition of the Mass and a fine collection of related motets. While many will appreciate the warmth of Summerly’s larger choir, the broad tempos, and the attractive price of a disc that couples it with a much-duplicated Lassus Mass for double choir, there is much to be said for the new disc in addition to its intelligent programming. Christophers explains in the notes that hymns composed as alternatim settings can be difficult to sing because the chant found in modern editions does not correspond to the melody used in the polyphonic verses. But the chant of this Christe Redemptor omnium can be deduced from the polyphony and confirmed from Victoria’s setting, which was published with the same chant printed out completely. He also notes how singers may have added unwritten accidentals to the chant in the same way the accidentals were written in the polyphony. He cites the superb volume of 68 offertories for the liturgical year that Palestrina published at the end of his life (Lassus published a similar set), for two of them are included here for Christmas and Epiphany. These two sets were the first to offer something to replace the chants that had always been sung at this place in the Mass. Richard Marlow (31:1) gave us one of the most extensive collections of these pieces. I look forward to the continuation of this series, impatient with the prospect of one disc per year. How long will this go on?


FANFARE: J. F. Weber

Palestrina: Missa Sine Nomine - Missa L'Homme Arme