5 facts about giovanni pierluigi da palestrina

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (3 February 1525 or 2 February 1526 – 2 February 1594)^[1] was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition.^[2] He had a lasting influence on the development of church music, and his work has often been seen as the culmination of Renaissance polyphony.^[2]

Biography

Palestrina was born in the town of Palestrina, which is near Rome, then part of the Papal States.

Documents suggest that he first visited Rome in 1537, when he is listed as a chorister at the Sta Maria Maggiore basilica. He studied with Robin Mallapert and Firmin Lebel. He spent most of his career in the city.

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 Franco-Flemish composers, Guillaume