By Gabriel Diaz-Patri
Giovanni Palestrina’s sacred works comprise 105 Masses in various styles, 68 offertories (where he abandoned the traditional cantus firmus technique – using an existing melody as the basis for a polyphonic composition — in favour of free composition), 250 motets, and 35 magnificats and 45 hymns written for the Divine Office.
Understanding this liturgical context is crucial to appreciating Palestrina’s music.
The hundred Masses are particularly significant, each containing the five pieces of the Ordinary: the unchanging texts of the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. These elements were already firmly established in our oldest surviving ordo Missae, the Gelasian Sacramentary of circa 750.
The advent of printing and the production of liturgical books in the late 1400s brought significant changes to both the conception and celebration of the Mass and the Office — the two pillars of liturgical activity — enabling standardization of texts and rubrics previously impossible in the manuscript (“written by hand”) tradition.
A Breakthrough in the Missal
The earliest surviving printed Roman Missal dates from approximately 1472. Early editions from this period had only the body of the text printed in black ink, with spaces left for hand-finishing — writing the ceremonial rubrics which, as their name suggests (ruber meaning “red”), were written in red ink.
The capital letters were hand-ornamented, often elaborately, by artists. Sometimes the tetragram lines were also printed, with musical notes added later.
In 1476, a significant breakthrough occurred when printer Ulrich Han produced a Roman Missal in Milan with all musical notes printed, declaring the achievement “unprecedented.”
Although the missals still contained only the priests’ parts, the printing of the music naturally led to greater consistency and uniformity.
Palestrina’s profound spirituality
It was against this background that Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was chosen to draft a work that seemed destined to accompany and complement musically the two liturgical books published after the Council of Trent.
His selection for this task stemmed not only from his musical prowess but also from his profound spiritual devotion, as evidenced by Pope Gregory XIII’s Brief of 25 October 1577, preserved in the State Archives of Florence, asking Palestrina to revise liturgical music that had become “replete with barbarisms, obscurities, contradictions, and superfluities…”
“[…]We have chosen you,” continued the Pope, “whose expertise in the art of music and melody, alongside your faith, diligence, and piety towards God, has been thoroughly proven…”
This document heralded the beginning of reforms to the musical liturgical repertoire, adapting it to the text of the newly promulgated liturgical books.
Palestrina’s work on the new Graduale (a general term for the entire book of sung Mass chants) used the 1570 Missal mandated by Pope Pius V — the first-ever attempt to standardize the Latin Rite Mass (the “Tridentine” Mass, a response to the Council of Trent) — as the reference model.
But the revision work was halted between 1578 and 1579, perhaps discouraged by hearing of Peter Liechtenstein’s 1580 publication of a complete Graduale.
The final Roman edition of the Graduale, also called the Editio Medicea of 1614, was completed by Francesco Soriano and Felice Anerio (who joined the project in 1611) and possibly incorporated preliminary work of Palestrina and Zoilo. Though unofficial, it served as the Western Church’s primary reference until the early 20th-century.
Palestrina’s disciple Guidetti produced a complete edition of the Passion song from the four evangelists, titled Cantus Ecclesiasticus Passionis Domini Nostri Iesu Christi Secundum Mattheum, Marcum, Lucam et Ioannem (pub. 1586), which was still used used as the reference for singing the Passion until the 20th century.
A Crucial Juncture
This period represented a crucial juncture in the reform and standardization of Catholic worship. The convergence of the Council of Trent’s directives, musical innovations, and the work of composers like Palestrina created a new synthesis that would influence Catholic liturgical practice for centuries.
Palestrina’s influence extended beyond composition; he established principles for sacred music that demonstrated how artistic excellence could serve the dignity and clarity of worship.
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