Palestrina: Missa Aeterna Christi munera & Other Sacred Music

Featuring

James O'Donnell
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Aurelius Ambrosius
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Did you know?

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Cultural Impact

Palestrina's works have continued to impress, move, and uplift listeners for over four centuries, remaining spiritually refreshing and musically astonishing.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Palestrina's music is characterized by an "austere serenity" and a "perfect balance," which many listeners perceive as having a heavenly quality.

Critical Reception

Palestrina, a long-revered archetype of Roman Catholic liturgical composers, had critics who felt he was unfairly placed on a pedestal, overshadowing other deserving musicians.

Composition History

The Missa Aeterna Christi munera is a mature work by Palestrina, first published in his Fifth Book of Masses in 1590.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Palestrina's motets from the 'Song of Songs' balance between the sacred and the erotic, reflecting the church's allegorical interpretation of these Hebrew love poems.

Cultural Impact

Palestrina's set of twenty-nine motets from the 'Song of Songs' was tremendously popular in his time, frequently reprinted after its 1584 publication.

Compositional Technique

The Missa Aeterna Christi munera is based on three melodic strands from the hymn of the same title, which Palestrina transforms and elaborates throughout the Mass.