Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palstrina Research Paper

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Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is the most famous composer from the Renaissance. He is best known for saving polyphonic music from being banned by the Catholic Church, and the fact that his music is the leading example of sacred style from the 16th century. Technological advances in printing enabled composers to publish works that were more available to the public. This lead to, “The book industry played a vital role not only in the dissemination of a composer’s music, but also in establishing his or her reputation-what we now call the ‘publish or perish’ syndrome (225)’” This means that the book industry had a lot of influence on a composer’s career since they had the power to distribute their compositions. This caused the ‘publish or perish …show more content…

In a span of just four years, Palestrina advanced from an organist to being instilled as a member of the Cappella Sistina. As it turns out, the publication of his did not only benefit him fiscally, but advanced his career as well. Unfortunately, Palestrina’s printing career slowed down as a result of complications with his career. The Pope whom appointed Palestrina, Julius III, passed away, and his successor, Marcellus, had a short career and passed away merely weeks post-election. Both of these Popes supported Palestrina, but the new pope, Paul IV was dedicated to the Counter-Reformation. As a result, Palestrina was let go of his position because the new Pope strictly enforced the rules of celibacy. Since Palestrina was married at the time of his appointment, the former Pope, Julius III, made exceptions for …show more content…

Of the three active Rome printers, Palestrina chose the Dorico firm for being the most experienced and possessing the correct equipment that Palestrina needed for publication of his choir books. This business relationship between Palestrina and Dorico lasted until 1572. With the disbanding of the firm, Palestrina and other composers were forced to utilize the firms in Venice. Palestrina produced five editions of his music over the next ten years with the Venetian printers until Alessandro Gardano revived music printing in Rome in 1583.
Venice was the superior area that released publications though. Of the thousands of musical editions that were released there, the majority of the publications were of Italian madrigals. The influx of madrigals affected Palestrina; his sacred music arose in Venice only when the printing in Rome came to a halt. This could be because his sacred publications were more expensive to produce. However, Palestrina mostly restricted his publications to printers in Rome. “His final two years in life were spent more as an active role or

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