Palestrina

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kay_Cee
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Yes, Palestrina was a great artist! I studied his contrapuntal technique in depth during college. He and J.S. Bach, in my opinion, are the twin masters of counterpoint, and they were both very devoted to God. Palestrina was a lay member of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, and even went to him for confession! He lost many family members including wife and children to the plague. There are many great Renaissance composers, but yes Palestrina has composed some music of exquisite beauty and form.

The heritage of Catholic music is vast and deep. Palestrina is just the most famous Italian of a particular period, mostly because later composers studied his music to learn how to compose. There are many composers though, too many to name! Without a doubt, we live in a time of desperate musical poverty both in the church and in the world, but at the same time I don’t know anyone dying of the plague (at least in the western world). So, we have much to be thankful for and much to try to restore and revitalize.
 
I am a little picky about the usage of the name “Palestrina” because when I was young sometimes on weekends we went to Palestrina for lunch but I never had lunch with Giovanni da Palestrina, and if I ever had lunch with some Giovanni while in Palestrina I can assure you that he was not the famous composer but at best a guy playing his guitar to pick up girls. :D:D:D
 
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