Renaissance Sacred Music: Palestrina and the Lutheran Chorale
Palestrina: A Master of Renaissance Sacred Music
Among the composers of religious music from the time of the Council of Trent is Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. His music has been traditionally revered and considered the pinnacle of 16th-century polyphony. He adopted the name of the place where he was born, Palestrina, a small town near Rome, and his whole life was dedicated to serving the most important churches in the city: Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni in Laterano, and San Pietro. With little more than 30 years, he had earned an outstanding reputation as a composer and musical director. He never left Rome despite receiving many offers from other places.
Palestrina was extremely prolific. He wrote many profane pieces, but his ecclesiastical appointments focused his energies on church music, writing about 100 masses, about 400 motets, and many other sacred works.
His most famous Mass, Missa Papae Marcelli, could have been written to demonstrate that the requirements of the Council of Trent were not necessarily incompatible with the beauty of polyphony in the traditional way.
Palestrina was fundamentally conservative concerning the concept of music. His constant proximity to the spirit of the Counter-Reformation involved more limitations in music when composing and less freedom to experiment. He perfected existing methods at the time and, in doing so, created the most glorious music of the era, characterized by perfect technique and expression. Palestrina was the master of “imitative” counterpoint, which is probably the most characteristic feature of Renaissance music.
The Lutheran Chorale
Immediately after the break with Rome, Luther was gradually shaping the Lutheran liturgy through successive writings, culminating with the 1526 appearance of the “German Mass.” Latin was abolished by the German cult, and an austere liturgy was established, centered around reading and commenting on texts from the Bible and hymn singing by the faithful to participate actively in the liturgical service. This is the cause of the occurrence of chorales, the most important musical contribution of the Lutheran Church.
Chorales are simple melodies that could easily be learned by the faithful, with German text, the syllabic character whose primary role was in the words of Luther. He achieved with the chorale that the faithful could sing and enjoy music in addition to understanding the text.
Key Features of Renaissance Music
- The music is based on the medieval church modes, but these are used more freely.
- The sound is richer and fuller; the music is written in a more free and expressive style.
- Composers are trying to fuse the melodic lines in the musical texture rather than producing contrasts between them.
- There is a better match in harmony, flow, and chord progression; dissonances are treated more gently.
- The music can be homophonic or contrapuntal style, using the technique of imitation to weave the musical lines and create a continuous musical texture and uniform.
- Typical ecclesiastical musical forms are the mass, the motet, and the anthem. Some pieces are composed to be performed a cappella and usually in a contrapuntal style with much use of imitation. Church music accompanied by instruments was also composed.
- Secular music includes a variety of songs that often make use of the technique known as “musical illustrations,” dances, and instrumental pieces.