Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina Born 1525 Palestrina,
Italy and takes his name from his birthplace,
Palestrina, a little hill town not too distant from
Rome and Died 1594 Rome, Italy. The family name was
Pierluigi, but was frequently omitted in the writings
of the composer, the name appearing as simply Giovanni
Pierluigi Da Palestrina. His exact birth date is
unknown as the official birth records of Palestrina
were destroyed by a fire in 1577. The composers
ancestors had provably lived for seve...(+)
Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina Born 1525 Palestrina,
Italy and takes his name from his birthplace,
Palestrina, a little hill town not too distant from
Rome and Died 1594 Rome, Italy. The family name was
Pierluigi, but was frequently omitted in the writings
of the composer, the name appearing as simply Giovanni
Pierluigi Da Palestrina. His exact birth date is
unknown as the official birth records of Palestrina
were destroyed by a fire in 1577. The composers
ancestors had provably lived for several generation in
Palestrina, his father, Sante Pierluigi, owned a little
land and a home. Part of the house where the composer
was born still stands and is marked with a plaque to
designate it today.
Pope Julius III started some reforms which were carried
on by his successor, Pope Marcellus II. The latter
summoned Papal Choir before him and directed that their
music should be out "in a suitable manner with properly
modulated voices so everything could both heard
understood". Palestrina seems to have been impressed
with the artistic soundness of the Pope's directive and
the untimely death of the Pope three weeks later led
the composer to write a Mass since known as The pope
Marcellus Mass.
Palestrina returned to service in the Julian Chapel
under a more liberal Pope and served in that capacity
until his death. One of his duties on his return was to
work on a revision of the plain song, a hopeless task.
He tried to discover the original melodies in use under
Pope GStevenory and eliminate copyist's errors and
later additions, but the records were in such a bad
condition that it was impossible to discover the
original chants. The nature of Palestrina final illness
is unknown. His funeral service at St.Peter's was an
acknowledgement of his stature in the musical world. He
was buried under the pavement in the New Chapel which
was later covered over by the new St. Peter's
Cathedral, then in the process of being built. A later
effort to locate Palestrina's remains was
unsuccessful.
One of the four Marian antiphons traditionally sung at
the end of Compline or Vespers, Alma Redemptoris Mater
is a beautiful prayer of intercession to the Mother of
God. The liturgical season during which it is appointed
to be sung is the period from after Compline for the
First Sunday of Advent until after Compline of February
2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (or the
Purification of the Virgin) in the Temple, Candlemas.
The poem was once attributed to Hermannus Contractus
(d.1054), and was so well known in England that it was
mentioned in the "Prioresses Tale" of Geoffrey
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. This lovely homophonic
version of Alma Redemptoris Mater has a meditative
quality, a quality of hushed wonder and expectation
appropriate for the seasons of Advent and Christmas.
This four-voice motet is based on the more ornate
version of the Gregorian chant setting of the
antiphon.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_
Giovanni_Pierluigi_da_Palestrina).
Although originally created for Voices (SATB), I
created this Arrangement of the "Alma Redemptoris
Mater" for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
, 21 Nov 2019 at 09:16 
SHEET MUSIC