Palestrina’s sacred music blazes with the spirit of the Counter-Reformation, the movement beginning in the second half of the 16th century by which the Catholic Church sought to recover and reinvent itself in response to rebellion, Protestant doctrinal challenge, and territorial losses across swathes of Europe. Working in the great churches and chapels of Rome, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was Italy’s most famous and prolific native-born composer of the High Renaissance period. During his career serving the centres of Catholic power, he provided music for every ceremony and feast, from intimate, expressive settings to majestic, audacious and even bombastic works. Such was the quality of his invention that his music has never fallen out of repertoire over succeeding centuries. While consciously exploiting and consolidating styles and techniques inherited from continental composers all the way back to Josquin, Palestrina was also an innovator, especially in his polychoral music and in his word-setting, which can be vivid but never descends into superficiality. Yet history has too often pigeonholed him as a conservative, as the man who ‘saved’ church music in response to the edicts of the Council of Trent, or deployed as the tool of dreary pedagogues whose pupils were forced to write codified imitations of his counterpoint. Our programme celebrates the 500th anniversary of Palestrina’s birth with a concert designed to showcase the quality, range and immediacy of his music. Our selection includes some of his finest compositions, from the emotive Stabat Mater and the intense Lamentations for Good Friday to the sunny Surrexit pastor bonus for Easter Day, with a rush of thrilling Pentecost pieces along the way.
PROGRAMME
Palestrina Jesu, rex admirabilis
Palestrina Sicut cervus – Sitivit anima mea
Palestrina Veni creator spiritus
Palestrina Dum complerentur dies Pentecostes
Palestrina O Domine Jesu Christe
Palestrina Lamentations for Good Friday (Book III), III
Palestrina Stabat Mater
Palestrina Nunc dimittis
Palestrina Spiritus sanctus replevit
Palestrina Veni sancte spiritus
Palestrina Surrexit pastor bonus
The concert includes one interval, and will end at approximately 9:15pm
About The Renaissance Singers
The Renaissance Singers is a specialist chamber choir that has brought the best in Renaissance vocal music to audiences in Britain for over 80 years. Performing Renaissance music that others do not, and aiming to engage wider audiences, the choir strives for the highest musical standards in all it does. Under its Musical Director David Allinson, its programmes offer unique paths of discovery for singers and audiences alike.
The Renaissance Singers is one of London’s leading chamber choirs and has specialised in bringing Renaissance vocal music to audiences in Britain for over 80 years. Under its current Musical Director David Allinson, the choir maintains a busy schedule of performances, workshops and recordings.
The choir was founded by Michael Howard in June 1944 as a performing wing of the Renaissance Society. It set out to perform neglected masterpieces to new audiences and even sang one early concert during an air raid. Making pioneering recordings from the 1950s onwards on the Decca label, the choir played a key role in the early music revival in Britain.
Recent highlights for the choir have included performances of Brean Hammond’s immersive drama Master Byrd at Ingatestone Hall, the first modern performance of the Requiem Mass by Manuel Mendes, adapted for Puebla Cathedral in Mexico by Gonçalo Saldanha, recording two compline services for broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and collaborations with guest conductors Gareth Wilson and Patrick Allies.
The choir’s open workshops offer anyone with some singing ability the chance to join forces with The Renaissance Singers and be coached on Renaissance repertoire by distinguished conductors and singers. Recent workshop leaders have included Robert Hollingworth, Rory McCleery, Greg Skidmore, Laurie Stras, David Allinson and Sarah Latto.
Praise for The Renaissance Singers
‘They are currently at the top of their game, with an excellent and well-drilled singers.’ Andrew Benson Wilson
‘This was more than just a concert—it was a spiritual experience, a reminder of the quiet power that music has to move, to heal, and to connect… It was truly a special evening, one that lingers in the heart long after the last note has faded.’ Antonia Constantin, A Young(ish) Perspective
‘An outstanding performance in an astonishing setting.’ Simon Pulleyn
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