Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina • Viri Galilaei

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s musical output is quite extraordinary. Although the numbers might suggest a tedious amount of works (and there are quite a few very similar in shape and thematic carving) there is still an enormous field of diversity and of sonic impact on the modern listener.

For me, works such as Tu es Petrus and the five-voice Viri Galilaei from his first book of motetes are among his best dramatic works in which the different groupings of voices strike the ear in an astonishing way. The two-voice opening is succeeded by a five-voice passage and then by a first four-voice section comprising the higher voices followed by another four-voice section of the lower voices, which in terms of a five-voice texture is widely worked by Palestrina, Victoria and even some Portuguese composer sounding like a miniature polychoral antiphonal exchange with the Superius and Bassus acting as response elements. This device is used throughout the motet, as does also the frequent use of homophonic passages for dramatic purposes, for instance at the five-voice entry of “Viri Galilaei” or at “quid statis”.

There is a more contrapuntal writing at “Hic Jesus”, but Palestrina again returns to homophony to great effect at “sic veniet”. The consistent use of homophony is notably present in the descending figures at the “Alleluia” section, which make this one of Palestrina’s most bright and shining motet.