Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina

was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music. He has had a lasting influence on the development of church music.

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Facade of St John Lateran, Rome, where Palestrina was musical director

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• Palestrina had established and followed these basic guidelines: -The flow of music is dynamic, not rigid or static.
• -Melody should contain few leaps between notes.

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• -If a leap occurs, it must be small and immediately countered by stepwise motion in the opposite direction. -Dissonances are to be confined to passing notes and weak beats. If one falls on a strong beat, it is to be immediately resolved.

He wrote secular, liturgical and religious music. • One of his most important works, the Missa Papae Marcelli (Pope Marcellus Mass), has been historically associated with erroneous information involving the Council of Trent.

According to this tale it was composed in order to persuade the Council of Trent that a draconian ban on the polyphonic treatment of text in sacred music

• He died in Rome of pleurisy in 1594. As was usual, Palestrina was buried on the same day he died, in a plain coffin with a lead plate on which was inscribed Libera me Domine. A five-part psalm for three choirs was sung at the funeral

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