Palestrina - Information needed

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Hey i’m a music student, craving for info on this guy, Palestrina, specifically his musical style and what he did for music of the Roman Liturgy. any music teachers out there willing to shed some valuable light?
Also, any comments on him and what he did from the catholic perspective?

To the moderators, i had no idea where to stick this thread… feel free to move it if required.

Many thanks in advance.
 
you may enjoy a 3-CD set called a Millenium of Music, overview of music from the Benedictine tradition over the centuries, a very good intro to liturgical music in general, places Palestrina et al in their period. It comes with a 60 page booklet of album notes and lyrics.

Palestrina: a man of deep faith, closely connected with the chruch thruout his life, Palestrina composed a muscial blessing (Tu es Petrus), pure objective music (like chant) contrapuntal blending of voices, balanced and deeply reverent. A conservative musically, obedient to the directives of the council of Trent to return liturgical music to a position secondary to the meaning of the scriptural words, and remove secular elements which had crept in.

the CDs and accompying booklet are a mini-course in the history of liturgical music. probably can get it from any source that sells chant CDs or Benedictine music - Collegeville Press comes to mind.
 
Palestrina gets several pages in most music history books.

One very common text, “A History of Western Music” by Grout and Palisca (5th ed, 1996, W.W. Norton and Co, New York, London), has 8 pages, including 2 sheets of scores for the Pope Marcellus Mass. The Grout and Palisca text should be available in public as well as university libraries.

One section on Palestrina and the Council of Trent (1545 - 1563) reads in part:
The Mass was profaned, some contended, when its music was based on secular cantus firmi or chansons. Complicated polyphony made it impossible to understand the words, even if they were pronounced correctly, and often they were not. Musicians were charged with inappropriate use of instruments, carelessness, and an irreverent attitude, and the pope even delivered a memorable reprimend on the subject to the choir of St. Peters. Nonetheless, the Council of Trent’s final pronouncement on church music was extremely general. Neither polyphony nor imitation of secular models was specifically forbidden.
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… and doesn’t that sound like a familiar song!!! Anyway, after a few lines, the text continues
…snip]…
According to a legend from the 1590s Palestrina saved polyphony from the Council’s condemnation by composing a six voice Mass that was both reverent in spirit and did not obscure the text. The work in question was the Pope Marcellus Mass.
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Thanks for your help, everyone.
I have already collected a fair bit of intormation, and this extra stuff will realy help.
There is however, one probem…
I know for a fact that Missa Papae Marcelli DID NOT save polyphonic music from the Council of Trent, as many sources have proved this myth wrong. But, the sources go on to say that this mass got it’s cantus firmus from a secular tune, L’homme arme… This confuses me a lot, as it seems out of Palestrina’s character. Even though this tune was used often for the setting of masses throughout the rennaisance by a multitude of composers, and even though the L’homme arme can have the interpretation of the armed man being St. Michael, it is still a secular tune, and it’s a bit weird that Palestrina used it… Can anyone explain this paradox?

Many thanks.
 
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