Aurore: Escapades – The Secular Music of Palestrina

XII Aurore – Helsinki Renaissance Music Festival

Escapades – The Secular Music of Palestrina 

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is often termed one of the foremost if not the most significant composer of the 16th century. His compositional technique has been idealised as a model for how counterpoint should be performed and his work has been studied extensively ever since. His life’s work was in service of the Catholic Church both in St. Peter’s and other central churches in Rome but among his earliest musical publications is also a masterly collection of secular madrigals.

This red rose of a musical work featuring texts of natural beauty and sensual love reveals Palestrina as a leading composer of the Italian madrigalian style. However roses come with thorns and this collection — along with the fact that he was married and had children — led to complications. He was fired from his first appointment at the Vatican when a new pope took office because he was not ordained and in the preface to a later collection of motets he apologetically refers to his earlier worldly works as ‘youthful delusions’.

Curated by singer Mats Lillhannus the programme is performed by Cappella Praenestina a vocal ensemble specially assembled for this occasion.

Thu 30th Jan 2025

ESCAPADES

6.15 pm – Meet the artist and free coffee at St. Pauls parish hall

7.00 pm – Concert begins at St. Pauls church

Tickets 25/20 €, festival pass 65/55 € from www.aurore.fi/liput

Read more: www.aurore.fi/english

Host or Publisher Renessanssimusiikkia Paavalinkirkossa ry