Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Italy, 1551–1594

Italian composer (c. 1525-1594) whose 104 masses became the standard model of Counter-Reformation polyphony. The balanced voice-leading of his style was later codified for teaching as strict counterpoint.

MusicRoots documents 2 artists who influenced Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and 7 artists Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina?

• Jacques Arcadelt — Palestrina knew the music of the Franco-Flemish composers working in Rome — Arcadelt among them, whose eight-voice Pater noster stood there until 1551 as a model of dense Flemish counterpoint.
• Josquin des Prez — Josquin's polyphonic technique was the foundation of the 16th-century style that Palestrina brought to its final perfection.

Which artists did Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina influence?

• Claudio Monteverdi — Monteverdi mastered the prima pratica of Palestrina's polyphony before declaring his 'second practice' — the old style remained his lifelong foundation.
• Giuseppe Verdi — Verdi called Palestrina the true father of Italian music and prescribed him, with Bach, as the daily bread of composers.
• Richard Wagner — Wagner was overwhelmed by Palestrina's Holy Week music and made his own performing edition of the Stabat Mater, conducting it in Dresden.
• Claude Debussy — Hearing Palestrina's Holy Week music, Debussy exclaimed 'that is music!'; the unhurried modal lines feed the choral writing of his own sacred and a cappella pieces.
• Anton Bruckner — Bruckner's masses and motets carry the Palestrina style revived by the Cecilian movement — the a cappella motets are written almost in the old vocal idiom.
• Franz Liszt — Liszt's late church music takes up the Palestrina model held up by the Cecilian reformers as the proper style for Catholic worship.
• Tomas Luis de Victoria — Victoria trained in Rome where Palestrina worked nearby and later succeeded him at the Roman Seminary; the sources hold that Palestrina probably taught him.