This song was written by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and is titled “Hodie Christus.”
Tag: palestrina
Search for the First Thunder
Here are two versions of a song called Ricercar del prima tuono, which means Search for the First Thunder. It was written almost 500 years ago by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 – February 2, 1594) was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition. He had a long-lasting influence on the development of church and secular music in Europe, especially on the development of counterpoint, and his work is considered the culmination of Renaissance polyphony.
For more on the composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Pierluigi_da_Palestrina
All of these Renaissance songs can also be found on the Renaissance Music page: https://wordpress.com/page/johnsthewritestuff.com/11830
And the Bach Chorales can be found on this page: https://wordpress.com/page/johnsthewritestuff.com/11995
if you are using Chrome on a smart phone, click the three dots in the top right corner to get to the menu. Choose settings, site settings, desktop site ON to view the music player on the right side of the page. If you are using a laptop you should be able to see the player. And then you can listen to this amazing music over and over.
Sicut Cervus
Sicut Cervus Is the name of a song written by another Renaissance composer named Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
Sicut cervus is a motet for four voices by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. What is a motet, you ask? A motet is a polyphonic choral composition on a sacred text usually without instrumental accompaniment. It sets the beginning of Psalm 42, Psalmus XLII in the Latin version of the Psalterium Romanum rather than the Vulgate Bible. The incipit is “Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes” (As the deer desires the fountains) followed by a second part (secunda pars) “Sitivit anima mea” (My soul thirsts). It was published in 1604 in Motecta festorum, Liber 2, and has become one of Palestrina’s most popular motets, regarded as a model of Renaissance polyphony, expressing spiritual yearning.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, (born c. 1525, Palestrina, near Rome [Italy]—died February 2, 1594, Rome), was an Italian Renaissance composer of more than 105 masses and 250 motets, a master of contrapuntal composition.
Palestrina lived during the period of the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation and was a primary representative of the 16th-century conservative approach to church music.
Palestrina was born in a small town where his ancestors are thought to have lived for generations, but as a child he was taken to nearby Rome. In 1537 he was one of the choirboys at the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he also studied music between 1537 and 1539. In 1544 Palestrina was engaged as organist and singer in the cathedral of his native town. His duties included playing the organ, helping with the choir, and teaching music. His pay was that of a canon and would have been received in money and kind. His prowess at the church there attracted the attention of the bishop, Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, who later became Pope Julius III.
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