Pictures of
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Italian Renaissance composer
(1525-94)



Share this page:

Palestrina wrote more than 105 masses and 250 motets, as well as madrigals, magnificats, offertories, and litanies. The best-known work of Palestrina music is the mass entitled Missa Papae Marcelli Cum Sex Vocibus (Mass for Pope Marcellus With Six Voices). Other works include the Missa L'Home Armé (Mass Setting for 'The Armed Man') and the secular madrigal Io Son Ferito, Ahi Lasso (Alas, I Am Wounded).




Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina




This is a woodcut that appeared on the frontispiece of the Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's Missarum Liber Primus (The First Book of Masses) that was first published in 1554. Palestrina (on the right) is shown presenting to Pope Julius III a copy of his musical work that he has dedicated to him.







This is a page from an old music score (exact date unknown) for Palestrina's greatest work, the Missa Papae Marcelli Cum Sex Vocibus [Mass of Pope Marcellus With Six Voices]. This page gives the music and words for the Kyrie section of the Mass. The Mass was dedicated to Pope Marcellus II who was Pope for just three weeks in 1555.




Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina shown on a postage stamp issued by Italy in 1975. This stamp commemorates the 450th anniversary of the birth of the composer.

The image on this stamp is a snippet taken from the frontispiece of Palestrina's Missarum Liber Primus (The First Book of Masses) (1554). See also the second image on this webpage.





Share this page:



Author: David Paul Wagner
(David Paul Wagner on Google+)


Note: This picture gallery page includes drawings, paintings, photos and images of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, his music, activities, friends and family, and the various places where the composer lived and wrote.