Palestrina: Missa Dum complerentur & Other Music for Whitsuntide

Featuring

Martin Baker
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Anonymous (Gregorian Chant)

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Performer Biography

The Choir of Westminster Cathedral is renowned for its pioneering work in reviving great works of English and Continental Renaissance composers, transforming attitudes towards the repertoire.

Compositional Technique

In his eight-part motets Spiritus Sanctus and Veni Sancte Spiritus, Palestrina uses two alternating vocal groups to create dramatic textural contrasts and magnificent climactic moments.

Critical Reception

Palestrina was highly regarded and widely published during his lifetime, with his works dedicated to powerful patrons, princes, and popes.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Palestrina, often considered a master of the polyphonic style, was not seen as a conservative by his contemporaries or the next generation of musicians.

Composer Biography

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whose name comes from a town near Rome, was dismissed from the Sistine Chapel by Pope Paul IV because he was married.

Compositional Technique

Palestrina's Missa Dum complerentur demonstrates his brilliant parody technique, where he expands, contracts, and alters musical ideas from an earlier motet to fit the Mass text.