Palestrina 500: Music from Italy and the Sistine Chapel

Join BREMF Consort of Voices to celebrate the 500 anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina in 1525, whose graceful polyphony was written to be performed in the Sistine chapel and whose influence quickly spread throughout Europe. We will also be performing motets by some of his contemporaries including Allegri, Victoria, Gabrieli, and Marenzio.

BREMF Consort of Voices
James Elias director

This concert is part of the Europe-wide celebration of Early Music Day 2025.

From its construction in 1473 right up until the 21st century, musical instruments were not permitted in the Sistine chapel. (It is from here we get the term a capella – in the style of the chapel – to mean voice singing without accompaniment). Composers were forced to find depth of tone and richness of harmony by writing increasingly intricate vocal lines, overlapping each other in ever more elaborate ways, and Palestrina is a major figure in the development of music from simple plainchant into polyphony.

On high occasions, part of the Sistine chapel choir, often the higher voices, would sing from the gallery, with the rest of the choir down below. This was a symbol of humankind’s praises to God from Earth, joining the choir of angels praising God from above. Stylistically, 8 part pieces written for the chapel usually have two choirs, first alternating, and then singing all together, and “double choir” motets continue to be written to this day. Both Palestrina and the Sistine chapel have played a large role in the development of choral singing and composition.