"CHORAL MUSIC" "This is Rome, the centre of the Roman Catholic world." "500 years ago, the Catholic Church was at the height of its power." "And from Rome, the Pope in effect dominated Western civilisation." "This was the age when Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper and Michelangelo decorated the Sistine Chapel." "The Renaissance was redefining the language of painting, sculpture and architecture, but music was developing at a different pace." "At the start of the 16th century, sacred music in the Catholic Church was that of the Middle Ages, but one man would emerge who would change music for ever." "His name was Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the Prince of Music." "CHOIR SINGING SACRED MUSIC" "This is St Peter's Italian Church in London." "Completed in 1863, its architecture is based on that of the classic Italian basilica." "In the Middle Ages, the way that the sound of the human voice reverberated with vast spaces like this inspired a style of music that became known as polyphony from the Greek meaning "many sounds"." "It's a style that Palestrina perfected some 500 years ago." "Today, Harry Christophers and his choir The Sixteen are famous for their interpretation of his music." "POLYPHONIC SINGING IN LATIN" "Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli is considered by many to be the purest and most beautiful example of what sacred music should be." "To find out more about this hugely influential composer, I went to Rome where Palestrina lived and worked at the time of the High Renaissance, the great artistic flowering that redefined European culture." "On my journey, I would meet many fascinating people who keep Palestrina's music alive today." "Palestrina is as important for me as maybe Mozart is important to Austria." "I mean, it's the soundtrack of my city." "It's what we see always around." "'Some believe he is the Godfather of all Italian music, 'yet few people outside the world of sacred music know much about him." "'In Rome, my first port of call was to see two of the world's leading authorities 'on one of Italy's greatest, but often overlooked composers.'" "Hello." "Welcome." "Thanks." "Lovely to meet you." "'I asked Professore Giancarlo Rostirolla and his 92-year-old mentor, Maestro Lino Bianchi, 'why so few people had heard of Palestrina.'" "TRANSLATION FROM ITALIAN:" "Its spiritual quality - where does that come from?" "How did he write music that was so spiritually..." "I suppose pure is...?" "But one part of Italy where Palestrina hasn't been forgotten is in his birthplace, the town of Palestrina just outside Rome." "In the early 16th century, Palestrina was part of the Papal States, Catholic territory, where the Pope was not only head of the church, but also head of state." "It was an age when Popes could and did raise armies and wage wars to maintain or increase their power." "Then, as it is now, Palestrina was a sleepy market town and here, in around 1525, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was born." "Following tradition, he took his family's home town as his surname." "Little is known of Palestrina's early life - few documents survive, but legend has it that one day the Bishop of Palestrina heard the boy singing in town." "# Vergine bella" "# Che di sol vestita... #" "So enchanted was the Bishop with Palestrina's voice that he invited him to join the choir of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome." "Founded in the 4th century," "Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the major basilicas of Rome." "Today, it's still one of the most impressive buildings in the city." "Palestrina is listed as singing as a choirboy here in 1537." "Coming from such a small town, it must have been an awe-inspiring moment for him when he saw this." "Inside this vast building filled with gold and glorious works of art, every day, people from all walks of life, both rich and poor, would attend Mass." "And for the Catholic Church, music was an important symbol of its power, as important as any cathedral or basilica." "The polyphonic style that Palestrina would later master had originally been inspired by the architecture and acoustics of churches like Santa Maria Maggiore." "The use of music in the Catholic Church had evolved over centuries, beginning with simple chants." "PRIEST CHANTS IN LATIN" "CONGREGATION JOIN IN" "And then these chants developed into a style of singing in unison which is still used in many Catholic services today." "SOLEMN MUSIC" "When composers began offsetting and interweaving the voices, polyphony gradually became the dominant style of sacred music throughout Europe." "And as a choirboy here at Santa Maria Maggiore, Palestrina would have learnt its principles well." "Back in London, unravelling Palestrina's mastery of this complex musical language is a passion for Harry Christophers and his choir, The Sixteen." "How did the buildings he wrote for affect Palestrina's writing?" "Can you see it in the work?" "You certainly can." "This whole period of music is all based around the architecture of the time." "And the people building the churches at the time also had in mind the vocal music that was being written." "You've got these fantastic arches in the buildings which resemble the arches in the music." "We'll give a demonstration at the start of this wonderful piece." "It's the way it goes up to God, so it's actually following the arch up the phrase to Heaven." "# Exsultate Deo" "# Adjutori... #" "So we've got this fantastic arch to the phrase and the sopranos gave this natural diminuendo as the phrase went down." "You've got all the parts coming in, this light and shade, ebb and flow." "He uses imitation." "He uses exactly the same tune, but he gives it to another line later." "Exactly the same material and used at an interval of a fifth." "So five notes lower than the sopranos." "Could we hear that?" "Yes." "Just the altos and sopranos together." "# Exsultate Deo" "# Adjutori... #" "There's one arch and then there's another arch, so it's like waves and waves of arches." "The whole thing is on these arches." "Every part comes in, then it's time to bring in the next set of words." "It's very important in this music." "You think of the buildings, the stained glass and the light coming in." "That also reflects in the music." "# Exsultate Deo" "# Adjutori nostro" "# Exsultate Deo" "# Adjutori nostro... #" "Palestrina's time as a choirboy at Santa Maria Maggiore effectively served as his musical education and it must have inspired him to want to become a composer." "As a young man, his best hope of achieving this dream was to work for the church." "After his time as a choirboy in Rome, Palestrina returned to his home town." "From the Vatican archives, we know that between 1544 and 1551 he was organist here at St Agapito's Church in Palestrina." "It was here that Palestrina married his first wife, Lucrezia Gori, and it was around this time that he began to develop his own unique musical language." "Palestrina's position here not only entailed playing the organ, he would have also been responsible for training the choir and overseeing the music for services." "And it was probably in this very church that Palestrina had the first opportunity to perform some of his own compositions." "It's amazing to think what it was like to hear Palestrina's music in this church for the first time and what a contrast to the harsh realities of day-to-day life in the 16th century world outside." "Today, the town still has its own composer and choir, so I went to meet Palestrina's successor," "Maestro Maurizio Sebastianelli, and he was not quite what I expected." "SPEAKS IN ITALIAN" "Ave Maria" " Palestrina." "I was struck by the fact that nearly 450 years after it was written," "Palestrina's music still resonates with these young people of the town who are all enthusiastic members of the choir." "SOLEMN CHORAL SINGING" "This amateur choir have just returned from Russia where they sang Palestrina's music." "EXCITED CHANTING" "What is it about Palestrina's music that is so special for your choir?" "FROM ITALIAN:" "So is it difficult technically for singers?" "Is it a good discipline?" "We know a little bit about Palestrina, the man." "Do you have a sense of what type of man he was?" "From his humble origins in this small town," "Palestrina found a way to express his faith through music so eloquently that, five centuries later, it still inspires composers today." "# The mountains and hills will sing praise to God... #" "This is St Columba's Catholic Church in Glasgow." "It is the local church of one of the biggest names in British music," "James MacMillan." "Alan, could you hold that chord after the choir..." "Although MacMillan has an international reputation, he is also a prolific composer of sacred music for his local church and today he's rehearsing a new piece he has written for Radio Four's Sunday Morning Service." "# All the trees of the countryside" "# Will clap their hands" "# For the Lord will come and he will reign for ever... #" "I realise that I probably did hear Palestrina when I was very, very young, maybe even aged four or five, and I do have very strange memories of going into what seemed a vast, cavernous space and hearing what I thought was something from Heaven." "# The mountains and hills will sing praise to God... #" "But this is what the congregations must have felt like on encountering Palestrina's music for the first time in Rome, in the Sistine Chapel or wherever." "And this is the curious thing that this highly wrought, complex music, four parts, five parts, eight parts of lines interweaving, must nevertheless have had an effect on the listeners that made them think they were in Heaven." "# God bless the Lord... #" "That gives me, as a composer, a message, a message from history, that sometimes the most complex things in music and art can achieve the most numinous and spiritual openings to whatever the divine may mean." "As a young composer in the early 16th century, it probably seemed to Palestrina that he would spend the rest of his life working in his home town." "He must have dreamed about getting a job in Rome where the Renaissance had been in full swing for decades." "The cultural and political centre of Europe had shifted when the Popes had moved from Avignon to Rome." "Now, across the city, beautiful new buildings and stunning works of art were springing up everywhere." "The Renaissance was transforming all of Italy as independent city states vied to express their power through the arts, but by far the biggest patron of sacred music was the Catholic Church in Rome, so composers from all over Europe flocked here." "Such was the power of the Catholic Church that the music it commissioned spread through Europe and was heard by millions." "Only the Vatican could guarantee a composer exposure like that." "Being signed up by the Pope or one of his Cardinals was like landing a major record deal." "APPLAUSE" "In 1551, Palestrina had a stroke of luck that was to change his life for ever." "The Bishop who had first spotted his talent and encouraged him to join the choir at Santa Maria Maggiore was elected Pope" " Pope Julius III." "He took Palestrina with him to Rome where he made him Choirmaster of the Cappella Giulia at St Peter's." "And in honour of his benefactor, the new Pope," "Palestrina wrote this Mass - Ecce Sacerdos Magnus." "MELODIC CHORAL MUSIC" "Published in 1554, Ecce Sacerdos Magnus was part of Palestrina's First Book of Masses." "In a world dominated by foreign composers, it was one of the first to be written by a native Italian that helped establish Palestrina as a serious composer in Rome." "Palestrina's First Book of Masses is an incredible set of works." "It's noticeable from these early days that Palestrina is a genius of form." "It's the way he shapes the music, the sonority of the music." "He uses a lot of suspensions on notes, a very simple effect, but he always comes back into the line." "He never veers off at a tangent outside the vocal line and this is a trademark of a very accomplished composer." "MELODIC POLYPHONIC SINGING" "In 1555, Palestrina's reputation was growing rapidly and he was made an official member of the Cappella Sistina, the Sistine Chapel Choir, a great honour." "After just four years in Rome," "Palestrina had landed one of the most important musical positions in the Catholic Church." "The Cappella Sistina was responsible for providing the music for papal ceremonies." "CHOIR SINGS SACRED MUSIC" "This is the choir today and just as it was in Palestrina's time, it is made up entirely of boys and men." "MEN SING SOLEMNLY" "BOYS JOIN IN" "Members of the Cappella Sistina were expected to be celibate and to live like members of the clergy, but the Vatican decided to overlook the fact that Palestrina was a married man with children, which made his appointment all the more significant." "His voice wasn't up to scratch and other choir members weren't pleased he'd sidestepped the entrance exams, but the Pope hadn't appointed Palestrina for his voice." "He had appointed him to give him time to write music." "His star was very definitely in the ascendant." "Palestrina's appointment to the Cappella Sistina was an astonishing achievement." "Up until then, all the major composers to work for the Catholic Church had come from abroad and perhaps the greatest of these had been the Flemish composer, Josquin Desprez." "Although he died before Palestrina came to Rome, his music must have been a big influence on the young composer." "# Ave Maria" "# Gratia plena" "# Gratia plena" "# Dominus tecum... #" "Josquin had first come to Italy as a young man and after working for various cardinals and aristocrats, he joined the Cappella Sistina, the Papal Choir, in 1486." "As a member of the most important choir in Rome, he also quickly went on to establish himself as one of the greatest composers of the High Renaissance." "However, the serenity of Josquin's music was in stark contrast to what was happening behind the scenes." "Josquin was here for five years and worked for two Popes." "His first employer, Pope Innocent VIII, hardly lived up to his name." "He is noted in history for having fathered eight children towards whom his nepotism was as lavish as it was shameless." "The unsympathetic chronicler Stefano Infessura provides us with a lively account of Innocent's life, including an attempt to revive him on his death bed with blood transfusions from three young boys, all of whom died in the process." "Even if only some of the tales are true, it gives us some idea of what life was like when Josquin was here." "Josquin was hugely influential in the development of sacred music, well known for the inventiveness and profound expression in his work." "I asked Harry Christophers to demonstrate why Josquin is considered a master of the polyphonic style." "Polyphony, many voices, the use of many voices, and in this context, it's the imitation of an idea." "Let's have the sopranos sing the initial idea." "SOPRANOS SING" "That initial idea." "Two and one." "Two and one." "But two and one is repeated one bar later by the altos." "ALTOS SING" "And that's exactly the same." "That's the same pitch." "Exactly." "Like "London Bridge Is Falling Down"." "They've started on the same note and it's very simple imitation." "It's lovely with the higher voices and the lower voices, using the different sections like an orchestra." "That makes Josquin so special from this period." "Remember, he's 1500s, and this is relatively early polyphony." "There's no better person at this time than Josquin." "Incredible composer that a lot of people then lived up to afterwards, but later on he brings in another effect - syncopation where the parts rhythmically fight against each other in a very jagged way." "Let's hear this." "THEY SING VARIOUS PARTS" "Right." "So, yes, the lower parts are off the beat." "You've got the tenors off the beat and the basses on it." "So the whole thing is fighting." "It's like a car changing gear very quickly." "It's really..." "It's jagged." "And then at the very, very end, in this final Alleluia, which also ends in this amazing cadence, on the penultimate note he just holds it." "Then suddenly you get the final chord." "It's very, very exciting." "It is fantastically powerful." "He marked that in the music?" "That he wanted to hold that penultimate chord." "He wants that penultimate chord held for as long as you like." "It's up to you, isn't it?" "Can we hear it again?" "One more time." "Josquin is a good example of how sacred music, like the other arts, was becoming increasingly more sophisticated as the Renaissance progressed." "It was almost as if composers were in competition to outdo one another with their elaborate interpretation of the polyphonic style." "Effectively, polyphony was doing to music what perspective had done for painting." "The use of perspective during the Renaissance brought painting a whole new dimension, as in this wonderful Caravaggio." "At this time Palestrina wrote a piece that changed sacred music." "Polyphony was an enormously significant idea, as was perspective in painting, but for the church there was a problem." "It was all to do with clarity." "As polyphony developed from Gregorian chant and composers began overlaying and interweaving voices, the words of the mass became harder and harder to hear." "Listening to Gregorian chant is the equivalent of reading this typically Roman street sign." "It's simple, clear and comprehensible." "Seen from this angle, although more interesting, it's harder to read." "And that, for the Roman Catholic church, was the problem with polyphony." "There was another bone of contention - the church was concerned about the melodies used." "There's no better example of this problem than the music of one of the best-known composers of the day," "Orlande de Lassus." "This is the St John Lateran Basilica, cathedral of the Popes, where Lassus was music director." "Although he was born in Mons in what is now Belgium, like many composers of the time Lassus had travelled around Europe working as a court composer for various aristocrats before coming to Rome." "In his lifetime, Lassus wrote a staggering 2,000 pieces." "60 of his masses survive, but his mastery of polyphonic style made him famous." "So famous that Emperor Maximilian II made him a nobleman and Pope Gregory XII made him a knight." "And after his time as the musical director here," "Lassus wrote this mass..." "However beautiful Missa Entre Vous Filles sounded in the 16th century, there was a problem for the church when they realised where Lassus had got the actual melodies from." "He got them from French composer Clemens non Papa's 16th-century hit, Entre Vous Filles De Quinze Ans." "It's a little too racy for me to translate here, but it's a celebration of young women's breasts." "Lassus had chosen his tunes from a popular pornographic folk song." "It was not unusual in those days for composers to use tunes written by others for their works, so Lassus, who enjoyed a joke and the good things in life, did nothing unique or out of the ordinary," "but when the Catholic Church found out where the melodies came from, it was not best pleased." "Sex and sacred music don't mix." "It's a bit like finding out that your favourite hymn is based on a raunchy pop song." "# Relax, don't do it When you want to go to it... #" "Lassus was an extreme example of a problem the Catholic Church had been facing for some time." "So the Pope resolved to do something about it." "In the mid-16th century, Pope Paul III convened the Council of Trent, which tried to address the many problems facing the Catholic Church." "The most pressing problem was in Germany, where Martin Luther had begun the Protestant Reformation." "The all-powerful Council, which sat three times between 1545 and 1563, was also charged with looking into the role of sacred music." "In 1563, the Council of Trent stressed that sacred music should not be lascivious or impure." "Astonishingly, they threatened to impose a total ban on polyphony being used in the mass at all." "And then one man was going to write something so beautiful and so pure that, according to legend, it would change their minds." "On the 23rd March, 1555, Pope Julius III died." "A month later, a plume of white smoke above the Vatican told the world a new Pope had been elected." "And his name was Pope Marcellus II." "Then, as now, the demands made on the Pope were enormous and Marcellus was not a healthy man." "The pressures of high office, combined with a series of hugely exhausting ceremonials and rituals, proved to be too much for him." "He fell gravely ill and, despite being wrapped in steaming sheepskins, just 22 days after his accession, Pope Marcellus II died." "However, Palestrina was to ensure that he would never be forgotten." "Palestrina's Papae Marcelli is an incredible piece." "He takes us back to the way we speak and he puts music to that." "He gives a note to each syllable." "But in the hands of another composer, that could sound really confined and very boring and very static." "Palestrina treats it as the voice would speak naturally." "We can have an analogy to Shakespeare, with an English text in his hands, the metre and the lyricism, it has a great power to it." "And it isn't simply the fact that he puts a note to each syllable." "It's the way he constructs the phrase, shapes the music, in a really brilliant way." "I think that's what sets Palestrina apart." "At the third and final session of the Council of Trent, they discussed banning polyphony." "In 1607, the composer Agostino Agazzari wrote, "Music of the older kind is no longer in use" ""because of the confusion and babel of the words."" "And he went on to say that this music would come very near to being banished from the Holy Church had not Giovanni Palestrina found a remedy." "Palestrina is, arguably, the first in a long line of great Italian composers." "No one is quite sure precisely when he wrote the Missa Papae Marcelli, but it was that work that sealed his reputation." "In 1585, he became a founder member of the Santa Cecilia Music Academy in Rome." "The academy would become world famous." "Other influential Italian composers such as Corelli, Scarlatti and Rossini would all come here." "The school holds one of the most extensive music libraries in Italy and deep in the bowels of the building, I was given the chance to see some of Palestrina's scores." "Could I see the Papae Marcelli?" "Just for fun." "I think it's possible, for fun." "Right." "Now..." "Wow." "Missa Papae Marcelli, 82." "Why do I get excited by that?" "The Papae Marcelli mass was Palestrina's answer to the Council of Trent, wasn't it?" "He had, in his ears still, that input by Papa Marcelli, who was a Pope only for three weeks." "That Pope wanted intelligibility of the words in the mass." "And so Palestrina had that inspiration and we don't know exactly when, but he composed that mass." "I don't know if I'm imagining this, but it looks simpler." "That's a good observation." "It looks simple and it is simple." "Ah, now you see this..." "This is interesting because there are a lot fewer notes to the words." "Yes." "Aren't there?" "And you can see that there." "Syllabic, that's the word." "One note per syllable." "So we're going to see now - don't open it yet - one of the two autograph manuscripts in Palestrina's hand." "Yes." "Right." "Beata es, virgo Maria." "This is amazing." "This is amazing, isn't it?" "To see his hand." "He gets respect." "Yeah." "How amazing they've survived." "And you can see here also typical characteristics of the composition of Palestrina." "There's an example." "You leap up and have to come down." "If you leap down, you have to go up." "'I felt hugely privileged to be holding music actually written in Palestrina's own hand." "'Palestrina rewrote the rule book for the use of polyphony, 'making use of the natural rhythms of spoken language, ideas he went on to expand in his later work, 'with pieces such as Alma Redemptoris.'" "I asked Maestro Alessandro Quarta just how much it differed from Palestrina's early work." "What personally I notice is a sort of more sweetness he's got in his writing." "And according to the Contra Reforma style after the Concilio di Trento, the monorhythmic style, because of the text, there had to be a clearer understanding of the text." "That's why this piece proceeds in a more monorhythmic way." "There is always in Palestrina a sense of nobility, a sense of ..." "It is not wild mannerisms as many other composers of his age made in the late 16th century." "Does that tell us something about him as a man?" "Was he calm?" "Eh, I haven't met him, but..." "What I can understand from the news we have about his life, for example, the fact that he never wanted to leave Rome." "I mean, in spite of lots of requests from the Duca di Mantua, the rich courts, he never wanted to leave Rome." "This says a lot, I think." "Why is he important to you?" "Palestrina is important to me as maybe Mozart is important to Austria." "I mean, it's the soundtrack of my city." "It's what we see, always, around." "It sounds like Palestrina." "You're Roman." "It's a little bit romantic." "He's your composer." "Absolutely." "It's my tradition." "It's the language of a part of my city." "The Counter Reformation saw a massive reorganisation of the Catholic Church and Palestrina could not escape the reforms instigated after the reign of Pope Marcellus." "The period immediately after the Pope's death was a difficult one for Palestrina." "On 23rd May, 1555," "Pope Paul IV took control over the Church, an elderly man, renowned for his rigid morals and severe character." "Some said that sparks flew from his feet as he walked round the Vatican." "When Pope Paul IV declared that all members of the Sistine Chapel choir should be celibate" "Palestrina was dismissed from his post." "After leaving the Sistine Chapel, he came here to St John Lateran, a great basilica, of course." "It's the cathedral church of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, but, musically speaking, it was a step down." "Although in terms of prestige Palestrina's appointment was a demotion, it was still a very important position." "St John Lateran was the largest basilica in Rome, famed for its acoustics." "Though no one could be certain, it is thought that whilst he was here, he wrote this motet" " Sicut Cervus." "'Palestrina's successor as choirmaster, Monsignor Marco Frisina, and singer Pina Magri, 'explain to me why this motet was particularly significant for the choir here.'" "How would you describe Palestrina at his best?" "SPEAKS IN ITALIAN" "Palestrina gives light and transparency to polyphony." "Palestrina gives a key, an interpretation." "Making polyphony something that does not suffocate the melody, but exalts it." "The phrasing is very Italian because it derives from Italian melody." "Ah!" "This is what he says." "It's a complete melodic arch, which is in one breath." "HE SINGS" "All on one breath." "No, two." "Two breaths." "But this long breath... ..creates a phrasing which is an arch and so even though there are long breaths, even where there is a breath, the phrasing is a very strong melodic arch." "Very Italian." "Like Puccini and Verdi." "Which leads afterwards to Puccini." "After five years working here," "Palestrina resigned after a row over the quality of the food for the choirboys in his care." "Although he continued to work for the Church, money was an issue as funds were increasingly diverted as funds were diverted from the arts to fight against the Protestants." "I went back to his birthplace, to the Palestrina Museum, to ask Professor Herzog about the latter part of his life." "'We know that when he lost his first wife and most of his family to the plague, 'he took the first steps to become a priest." "Why, at the height of his fame, did Palestrina do it?" "'" "I think there was an ambiguity." "He was religious, it's true, but he looked very much also to his interests." "And so, as a composer, who wanted to become more famous, through his publications, so he thought that a better solution was marrying a rich widow of a fur merchant and so he had many possibilities to publish his works." "With his own money." "Palestrina never published so many of his works like in this period after marrying the rich widow." "Now, thanks to his marriage, he was financially independent and no longer reliant on the Church." "And for his wedding he wrote a collection of motets based on the erotic Song of Songs." "In 1584, Palestrina published it himself." "'According to Maestro Lino Bianchi, Italy's foremost Palestrina expert, 'it was the composer's second great masterpiece, with a huge influence on developing Italian music.'" "How do you consider the latter part of his career?" "CHURCH BELL CHIMES" "Although in the latter part of his life it seems Palestrina was disaffected with church politics, this never undermined his faith." "He embraced many aspects of the Counter Reformation, and he continued to produce religious music, writing in his native Italian rather than in Latin, until his death in 1594." "Today Palestrina's music has become as much a part of the Roman landscape as any church or basilica." "And almost five centuries after his death, it is why, in Rome," "Palestrina is still called the Prince of Music." "Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2008" "Email us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk"