Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525 – 1594) was
an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the
best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman
School of musical composition. He has had a lasting
influence on the development of church music, and his
work has often been seen as the culmination of
Renaissance polyphony.
From 1544 to 1551, Palestrina was organist of the
principal church (St. Agapito) of his native city, and
in 1551 he became maestro di cappella at the ...(+)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525 – 1594) was
an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the
best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman
School of musical composition. He has had a lasting
influence on the development of church music, and his
work has often been seen as the culmination of
Renaissance polyphony.
From 1544 to 1551, Palestrina was organist of the
principal church (St. Agapito) of his native city, and
in 1551 he became maestro di cappella at the Cappella
Giulia, the papal choir at St Peter's. His first
published compositions, a book of Masses, had made so
favorable an impression with Pope Julius III
(previously the Bishop of Palestrina) that he appointed
Palestrina musical director of the Julian Chapel. This
was the first book of Masses by a native composer: in
the Italian states of his day, most composers of sacred
music were from the Low Countries, France, Portugal, or
Spain. In fact the book was modeled on one by
Cristóbal de Morales: the woodcut in the front is
almost an exact copy of the one from the book by the
Spanish composer.
A ricercar (also spelled ricercare, recercar,
recercare) is a type of late Renaissance and mostly
early Baroque instrumental composition. The term means
to search out, and many ricercars serve a preludial
function to "search out" the key or mode of a following
piece. A ricercar may explore the permutations of a
given motif, and in that regard may follow the piece
used as illustration. For example, "Ricercar sopra
Benedictus" would develop motives from a motet titled
"Benedictus." The term is also used to designate an
etude or study that explores a technical device in
playing an instrument, or singing.
In its most common contemporary usage, it refers to an
early kind of fugue, particularly one of a serious
character in which the subject uses long note values.
However the term has a considerably more varied
historical usage.
Although this piece was originally written for voices,
I arranged it for Woodwind Quartet (Flute, Oboe, Bb
Clarinet & Bassoon).
SHEET MUSIC