Palestrina

It may confuse you to learn that Palestrina is not a person, but a

place. The composer was actually named Giovanni Pierluigi.

Giovanni was born around 1525 in the tiny village of Palestrina,

outside Rome, in the country of…

ItalyRome

Gianetto (as he was then called) was a happy, playful child who sang in the local

choir. At age 12, he went to Rome to a choir school where he learned to compose.

At the age of 20, he got a job as an organist back in his home town of Palestrina and he married a girl named Lucrezia, whose father

had just died and left her some money.

Not long after Giovanni got married, the bishop of Palestrina became the new Pope. The new Pope

needed a choir director for St. Peter’s choir in Rome, and he knew Giovanni because they were

from the same little town, so he appointed him the director.

It seems that church composers of this time had

been using melodies of “secular” songs in church

music. Also, the music was loud and nobody could

understand the words. The church leaders were

unhappy with this and they wanted to abolish both

homophonic and polyphonic music and go

back to the Gregorian Chant of 1000 years earlier.

Giovanni convinced the church leaders that polyphonic music could be

very respectable. His church

music wasn’t too loud and the words were

easily understood.

All seemed to be going well for Giovanni. He married a girl with lots of money, he got a job as director of the Pope’s very

own choir, and he single-handedly convinced church leaders not to go back

to Gregorian Chant.

The Vatican in Rome – where the pope lives

Unfortunately, the tide was about to turn for Giovanni. The

dreaded sheep flu killed his wife and 2 of his 3 sons.

Needless to say, Giovanni was very upset at losing his family. He considered giving

up composing music and becoming a priest.

He got as far as shaving his head to become a priest, but

then he decided against it.

Instead, he changed his name to his home town of…

Palestrina

Things started looking up for

Palestrina. He met and married a rich

widow named Virginia Dormuli.

Virginia owned a fur and leather business

and four houses which she rented out

to tenants.

During the mornings, Palestrina would

mind the fur store and take care of any

tenant problems. During the

afternoons, he composed. Although he was busy, he still somehow managed to compose about

100 masses and over 600 other pieces.

Palestrina died in 1594 in Rome, Italy. He was buried in St. Stephen’s

cemetary, but his grave has been misplaced over the years.

Composer: Palestrina

Song: Si ignoras te