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GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA (ca. 1525–94)
Gaude gloriosa
e Virgin Mary is the focal point
for some of the most inspired writ-
ing in musical liturgy. Composers
from the Middle Ages to the pres-
ent day have composed countless
works—from brief motets to elab-
orate Masses—in her honor. Full
of adoration, reverence, passionate
pleas for mercy, and solemn prayers
for intercession, the Marian motet
was perhaps most perfectly realized
in the hands of Renaissance masters
from Italy and Spain.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was
born in the Italian town from which he took his name. He was
maestro di
cappella
at St. Peter’s in Rome from
to
and from
until his death
in
. His fame as the outstanding representative of the Roman school
caused his name to be directly associated with the “strict” style of Renais-
sance counterpoint used as a pedagogical model by students of nearly every
succeeding generation. In
Gaude gloriosa
, Palestrina demonstrates his mas-
tery of these contrapuntal techniques.
e meticulous voice leading and
re ned dissonance treatment now universally idealized as the “Palestrina
style” are pervasive, and the composer infuses this motet with a celebratory
spirit.
Gaude gloriosa,
super omnes speciosa,
Vale, valde decora,
et pro nobis semper Christum exora.
Rejoice, glorious one,
surpassing all others in beauty,
Fare you well, fair Lady,
and intercede for us to Christ.
ORLANDE DE LASSUS (ca. 1532–94)
Surrexit pastor bonus
To his contemporaries, he was the
“Prince of Music,” the “King of Mu-
sicians,” the “Divine Orlando.” We
speak of Orlande de Lassus, born
in the French-speaking province of
Hainault in present-day Belgium in
. Today it is clear that Lassus’s
compositional voice is one of the
great ones of his time. However, it
was his singing voice that got him
abducted no fewer than three times
during his childhood. His teens
were spent in southern Italy and
Rome, where he became choirmas-
ter of the basilica of St. John Lateran
in
, a position that would be held by Palestrina following his departure
in
. By
he had entered the service of the Bavarian court at Munich,
and there he remained until his death in
, working not only as court
composer but also in equal demand as a singer. It was in Munich that Las-
sus was visited by Andrea Gabrieli, who was impressed enough with the
court to remain for at least a year. Lassus took charge of the ducal chapel in
, and, based on a number of Magni cat settings, it seems the duke had
a preference to celebrate Vespers in a solemn fashion.
A master of all of the major vocal genres of his time—French chanson,
Italian madrigal, and German lied, as well as Latin Mass and motet—Las-
sus became the most published composer of the th century. His
Surrexit
pastor bonus
for ve voices is a perfect example of his mastery of the poly-
phonic motet. e opening ascending interval announces the resurrection
of Christ, while uid descending passages quite literally paint Christ laying
down his life.
e Easter-tide motet is dominated by a peal of “Alleluias,”
(nearly half of the motet is formed by this section) the voices tumbling over
each other, volleying the text back and forth—perhaps a reaction to the
absence of “Alleluia” for the entire Lent season.
Surrexit pastor bonus,
qui animam suam posuit pro ovibus suis,
et pro grege suo mori dignatus est.
Alleluia.
e good shepherd has arisen,
who laid down his life for his sheep,
and for his ock deigned to die.
Alleluia.
ORLANDO GIBBONS (1583–1625)
O Clap Your Hands
Organist, composer, teacher, and
singer Orlando Gibbons was born
into a musical family and was one
of the last of a musical dynasty that
began with the composers of the
Eton Choir Book and ended with
the death of Gibbons’s contempo-
rary
omas Tomkins. He joined
the ranks of the Chapel Royal in
upon the ascension of James I
to the English throne. By
, he
and Tomkins were senior and junior
organists of the chapel, respectively
(positions once held by
omas
Tallis and William Byrd). Gibbons
wrote somewhat fewer pieces than many of his predecessors, but they are
each exquisite in their detail and technical brilliance.
OClap Your Hands
was composed by Gibbons on behalf ofWilliamHeyther,
who was given an honorary Doctor of Music degree at Oxford University
in
, to ful ll the university’s requirement of a ‘commencement song’
composition from all doctoral candidates. Gibbons was also awarded the
Doctor of Music degree on the same day. is splendid anthem has no solo
passages, and is therefore what was known as a ‘full anthem’ in the th cen-
tury. It is composed in eight parts, sometimes all heard together, elsewhere
divided into two four-part choirs.
e double-choir construction is espe-
cially exciting in the second section of the work, as the rhythmic drive and
vocal reworks become ever more intense as the music reaches its climax.
O clap your hands together, all ye people: O sing unto God with the voice of melody.
For the Lord is high, and to be feared: he is the great King upon all the earth.
He shall subdue the people under us: and the nations under our feet.
He shall choose out an heritage for us: even the worship of Jacob, whom he loved.
God is gone up with a merry noise: and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet.
O sing praises, sing praises unto our God: O sing praises, sing praises unto our King.
For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon his holy seat.
For God, which is highly exalted, doth defend the earth, as it were with a shield.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end.
WILLIAM BYRD (ca. 1540–1623)
Ave verum corpus
e conversion of England from the Roman Catholic Church to the Church
of England by King Henry VIII (and later Queen Elizabeth I) forced those
who wished to practice Catholicism to do so covertly, as penalties included
nes, scrutiny, torture, or death. All vestiges of the “old religion” were sum-
marily prohibited, including the use of Latin (only English was permitted).
In this highly volatile and oppressive atmosphere, Byrd played a dangerous
game. Refusing to conform to the new “Anglican” church, he composed
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Orlande de Lassus
Orlando Gibbons
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