Palestrina's Palazzo

[kishnevi]

Hmm, there doesn't seem to be a thread explicitly dedicated to Palestrina, so I'm starting this one!

A question prompted by a complaint of a Facebook friend:

Has anyone (ensemble or label) attempted a complete recording of any segment of Palestrina's music (masses, motets,  liturgical pieces), and, if so, how close did they get to completing it?

[The new erato]

Unfortunately not AFAIK.

By his death in 1594, Palestrina had published a huge amount of music including over 100 Masses (Reese lists 104) and over 350 motets. Any of those will be a mammoth undertaking taking a decade and I guess with a very limited market.

[kishnevi]

Unfortunately not AFAIK.

By his death in 1594, Palestrina had published a huge amount of music including over 100 Masses (Reese lists 100) and over 350 motets. Any of those will be a mammoth undetaking taking a decade and I guess with a very limited market.

Rather what I expected to be told....

His actual complaint was more limited in scope--that outside a basic core of masses (M. Papae Marcellae, M. Assumpta est Maria, etc.) which he estimated at 9 or 10 in all,   that gets recorded and recorded,  but hardly anyone goes beyond into the other 90 masses--much less the motets (although the Song of Songs motets seem to be getting a good deal of attention nowadays.)  One can't even get a semi-complete collection, apparently, even by assembling recordings from diverse performances.   The most venturesome group, in terms of recording lesser known masses, is apparently the Tallis Scholars, of all people.

I do have this CD, whose title suggests Naxos may have contemplated some sort of series back in the 1990s

since it bears the label "Masses and Motets, Vol. 2"--but, while Amazon shows what was probably volume 1 (Missa de Beata Virgine),  I see no sign of Vol. 3 or later.

[The new erato]

Yes I totally agree. It is very unfortunate that with Palestrina, firstly that there seem to be little recording activity in general compared to his position and compared to other composers of the period, and secondly that there seems to be a tendency to record a pretty limited number of works. The Sixteen on the CORO label have stated a project that perhaps will remedy that a little.

[Mandryka]

MRS ORGAN MORGAN
. . . Who do you like best. Organ?
ORGAN MORGAN
Oh, Bach without any doubt. Bach every time for me.
MRS ORGAN MORGAN
Organ Morgan, you haven't been listening to a word
I said. It's organ organ all the time with you...
FIRST VOICE
And she bursts into tears, and, in the middle of her salty howling, nimbly
spears a small flat fish and pelicans it whole.
ORGAN MORGAN
And then Palestrina,
SECOND VOICE
says Organ Morgan.

When I first heard that as a schoolkid I was intrigued, but I've never investigated his music.  Did he write any organ music?

[kishnevi]

When I first heard that as a schoolkid I was intrigued, but I've never investigated his music.  Did he write any organ music?

Going by Wikipedia,  he only wrote for voices, possibly with continuo in some works--which is a church setting would presumably be supplied by an organ.  But dedicated instrumental works seem not to have interested him.

You can peruse here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Giovanni_Pierluigi_da_Palestrina

[Mandryka]

Delitiae Musicae do Palestrina's masses on tunes by Jachet de Mantoue, 2vol. Small scale; characterful unblended singing; the music is interesting polyphonically and melodically and no doubt in lots of other ways I haven't noticed ; on spotify and I think it's well worth a listen.

[SonicMan46]

Palestrina TTT after 5 years!    Possibly the most prolific composer of the 16th century - summary of his compositions in the second paragraph of the quote below; a more detailed list HERE - just pulled out my modest (to say the least) collection of just 5 CDs - there is a lot available on Amazon and listed on Spotify - not sure why he has not received more attention (even wrote a 'Armed Man' mass, but what would you expect!), but my recordings are shown below - hopefully some discussion will develop?  Dave

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525 – 1594) was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition. He had a long-lasting influence on the development of church and secular music in Europe, especially on the development of counterpoint, and his work is considered the culmination of Renaissance polyphony. Palestrina came of age as a musician under the influence of the northern European style of polyphony, which owed its dominance in Italy primarily to two influential Netherlandish composers, Guillaume Dufay and Josquin des Prez, who had spent significant portions of their careers there. Italy itself had yet to produce anyone of comparable fame or skill in polyphony. Orlando di Lasso , who accompanied Palestrina in his early years, also played an important role in the formation of his style as an adviser.

Palestrina left hundreds of compositions, including 105 masses, 68 offertories, at least 140 madrigals and more than 300 motets. In addition, there are at least 72 hymns, 35 magnificats, 11 litanies, and four or five sets of lamentations. The Gloria melody from Palestrina's Magnificat Tertii Toni (1591) is widely used today in the resurrection hymn tune, Victory (The Strife Is O'er). (Source)