Death of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina died on 2 February 1594 in Rome, aged about 69. An Italian composer of the late Renaissance, Palestrina took his name from the town near Rome where he was born. He spent most of his career in Rome, serving as choirmaster at St Peter's Basilica and at other major churches. He wrote more than a hundred masses, as well as motets and other sacred works, in a clear, smooth polyphonic style that became a model for later teachers of counterpoint. A popular legend says that his Pope Marcellus Mass persuaded the Council of Trent not to ban polyphonic music in church, though historians doubt the story. His music is considered the ideal of Catholic church music of the Counter-Reformation.

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