FAMOUS COMPOSER

IN RENAISSANCE
PERIOD
 BIOGRAPHY
 Born: between February 3, 1525 and
February 2, 1526 - probably
Palestrina, near Rome, then part of
the Papal States, Italy
Died: February 2, 1594 - Rome, Italy.

 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was

an Italian composer of the
Renaissance. He was the most
famous 16th century representative
of the Roman School of musical
composition.
 Palestrina had a vast influence on
the development of Roman
Catholic church music, and his
work can be seen as a summation
of Renaissance polyphony.

 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

was born in Palestrina, a town
near Rome, then part of the Papal
States. He spent most of his
career in Rome.
 From 1544 to 1551 Palestrina was organist of the
principal church of his native city (St Agapito), and in
the last year became maestro di cappella at the
Cappella Giulia, the papal choir at St. Peter's Basilica.

 The decade of the 1570s was difficult for him

personally; he lost his brother, two of his sons, and his
wife in three separate outbreaks of the plague (1572,
1575, and 1580 respectively).
 He seems to have considered becoming a priest at this
time, but instead he married again, this time to a
wealthy widow; this finally gave him financial
independence.

 He was not well paid as choirmaster but he was able to

compose prolifically until his death. He died in Rome of
pleurisy in 1594.
 MUSIC AND COMPOSITIONS

Palestrina left hundreds of

compositions, including 104
masses, 68 offertories, more than
300 motets, at least 72 hymns, 35
magnificats, 11 litanies, 4 or 5 sets
of lamentations etc., at least 140
madrigals and 9 organ ricercari.

.
 The Missa Papae Marcelli,
written in 1567, is Palestrina's
most well-known mass and
represents one of his greatest
achievements: the beautiful
balance between textual
clarity, artistic beauty and
florid counterpoint.
 The Missa Papae Marcelli consists,
like most Renaissance masses, of a
Kyrie, Gloria, Credo,
Sanctus/Benedictus, and Agnus Dei,
though the Agnus Dei is in two parts
rather than the common three. 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.
 KYRIE
 In the Tridentine Mass, the Kyrie is the first sung prayer in the
Order of Mass. It is usually (but not always) part of any musical
setting of the Mass. Kyrie movements often have an ternary
(ABA) musical structure that reflects the symmetrical structure
of the text. Musical settings exist in styles ranging from
Gregorian chant to Folk.
THOMAS
MORLEY
 THOMAS MORLEY

• The composer, organist, and theorist Thomas Morley (ca. 1557-

ca. 1602) was the chief English exponent of the Italian madrigal
tradition.
• Morley has been called the father of the English madrigal.
• Morley's sacred music is more deeply serious and
moving than the canzonets and madrigals.
 HIS LIFE

• Thomas Morley was born about 1557 and, sometime between 1602
and 1608, died after a long illness. During his early years he
studied composition with William Byrd and organ under Sebastian
Westcote.
• In 1588 Morley received a bachelor of music degree from Oxford
and took the position of organist at St. Giles, Cripplegate.
• In 1591 he became organist at St. Paul's, joining the Chapel Royal
the following year. About this time Morley married; he and his
wife, Susan, had three children between 1596 and 1600.
 HIS CAREER

• Morley was the most famous composer of secular music in his

time. He was a singer in the local cathedral during his
childhood and was believed to have studied music with
William Byrd, an Elizabethan composer of sacred music.
• He received his Bachelor’s degree in Oxford and became an
organist at St. Paul’s in London.
• He tried imitating Byrd in his early works but veered towards
composing madrigals that show a variety of color, form and
technique.
 HIS CAREER

• Most of his madrigals are light and easy to sing with some
aspects of Italian style.
• His “Musica Transalpina”, a collection of Italian madrigals fitted
with English text, was published in 1588 by Nicholas Yonge.
• Shortly after, he began publishing his own collections of
madrigals and made significant contribution to the history of
music.
 HIS FAMOUS WORKS

• Fire fire my heart!

• Sing and chant it
• It was the Lover and His Lass
• Fantasie
• April is in my mistress face