Palestrina

by Jerome Roche

60 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1971

Reviews

[Almachius · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's (probably) Palestrina's quincentennial birthday sometime this year. I sang his Missa Brevis at a concert in Lancaster on the 5th February and in preparation I returned to this short but beautifully detailed analysis of his style done mostly through comparison with his near contemporaries. It's well written and, with the modern aid of instant streaming, is a great opportunity to get to know this heavyweight of the sacred music world through a specific but broad sample of his music. I can't comment on the accuracy of the scholarship; it might well be out of date, but it left me with a more informed confirmation of my previous intuition that whilst Palestrina is the best at being Palestrina, he's not the unique Shakespeare of polyphony, but a master craftsman amongst master craftsmen, and whilst I wouldn't ever want to be without him, I could make do without him for a long time, provided Byrd, Lassus and Victoria were not going anywhere.