Amazing pieces of classical music - 40
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's 'Missarum liber secundus', Missa No. 7 under the title of 'Missa Papae Marcelli': Kyrie (composed in 1562) in the 1962 performance by the Regensburger Domchor under the direction of Theobald Schrems. The mass from which the Kyrie comes is probably Palestrina's greatest work and is seen by many as the cornerstone of Renaissance music.
The Pope Marcellus Mass is a "sine nomine" (untitled; it uses no pre-existing musical source material) mass from Palestrina's second book of masses, and is also his best-known piece of music, as it is considered the archetypal example of the complex polyphony Palestrina advocated. He wrote the mass at a time of fierce debate against polyphonic church music.
Some (including Pope Marcellus II) considered polyphony too complex and potentially distracting from the liturgy. In the Roman Catholic mass, for example, the Kyrie is more of a short prayer for grace, usually sung during the introductory rite, and forms part of the ordinary mass. The text "Kyrie eleison" (Lord, have mercy) is then sung or spoken by the congregation and the priest.
The composer occupies an unrivalled position in the history of music and in particular in Catholic church music. His style of counterpoint, taken as a model for imitation by later generations, epitomized the aesthetic aims of the Counter-Reformation, the perfection of the stile antico, and has had an even wider influence as an essential element in the traditional teaching of compositional technique.
His name taken from his presumed place of birth in 1525 or 1526, he spent most of his life in nearby Rome. His training was as chorister at the basilica of Santo Maria Maggiore, where he learned of the Franco-Flemish music at first hand. Aged eighteen he was serving as organist in Palestrina but he returned soon to Rome, through the agency of Julius III, previously Bishop of Palestrina.
The Palestrina mass is nowadays still considered by some as being the greatest piece of music from the Renaissance. It's seen as a model of clarity and refinement in sacred music, particularly during a time of fierce debate over the intelligibility of complex choral music. Eventually this masterful polyphony became an highly influential model for composers for centuries thereafter.
The Regensburg Cathedral (in German: Regensburger Dom) is one of the most important Gothic churches in southern Germany and the only Gothic cathedral in Bavaria. From 1924 until his death in 1963, Theobald Schrems was priest and director of music there, gaining the choir (Domchor) and boys' choir (Domspatzen) worldwide acclaim under him.
The mass itself has been recorded many dozens of times, for a couple of reasons: it’s a great work, and it has long carried the (probably undeserved) reputation for having prevented, due to its textual clarity, an ecclesiastical council from banning polyphony from Roman Catholic church music in the 16th century. Because of apparent difficulties, I've enclosed now two other performances
[media=https://youtu.be/WGS2mzBk1nU]
[media=https://youtu.be/S97P-RmzFUo]
[media=https://youtu.be/QdZ_7dFbl1A]
The Pope Marcellus Mass is a "sine nomine" (untitled; it uses no pre-existing musical source material) mass from Palestrina's second book of masses, and is also his best-known piece of music, as it is considered the archetypal example of the complex polyphony Palestrina advocated. He wrote the mass at a time of fierce debate against polyphonic church music.
Some (including Pope Marcellus II) considered polyphony too complex and potentially distracting from the liturgy. In the Roman Catholic mass, for example, the Kyrie is more of a short prayer for grace, usually sung during the introductory rite, and forms part of the ordinary mass. The text "Kyrie eleison" (Lord, have mercy) is then sung or spoken by the congregation and the priest.
The composer occupies an unrivalled position in the history of music and in particular in Catholic church music. His style of counterpoint, taken as a model for imitation by later generations, epitomized the aesthetic aims of the Counter-Reformation, the perfection of the stile antico, and has had an even wider influence as an essential element in the traditional teaching of compositional technique.
His name taken from his presumed place of birth in 1525 or 1526, he spent most of his life in nearby Rome. His training was as chorister at the basilica of Santo Maria Maggiore, where he learned of the Franco-Flemish music at first hand. Aged eighteen he was serving as organist in Palestrina but he returned soon to Rome, through the agency of Julius III, previously Bishop of Palestrina.
The Palestrina mass is nowadays still considered by some as being the greatest piece of music from the Renaissance. It's seen as a model of clarity and refinement in sacred music, particularly during a time of fierce debate over the intelligibility of complex choral music. Eventually this masterful polyphony became an highly influential model for composers for centuries thereafter.
The Regensburg Cathedral (in German: Regensburger Dom) is one of the most important Gothic churches in southern Germany and the only Gothic cathedral in Bavaria. From 1924 until his death in 1963, Theobald Schrems was priest and director of music there, gaining the choir (Domchor) and boys' choir (Domspatzen) worldwide acclaim under him.
The mass itself has been recorded many dozens of times, for a couple of reasons: it’s a great work, and it has long carried the (probably undeserved) reputation for having prevented, due to its textual clarity, an ecclesiastical council from banning polyphony from Roman Catholic church music in the 16th century. Because of apparent difficulties, I've enclosed now two other performances
[media=https://youtu.be/WGS2mzBk1nU]
[media=https://youtu.be/S97P-RmzFUo]
[media=https://youtu.be/QdZ_7dFbl1A]
