Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli

The Missa Papae Marcelli by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is a crossroads of historical and musical doubts and paradoxes. After all, legends such as these are always nourished first in the shadows of history, in the ambiguous folds of testimonies; enigma is the birthplace of creative fantasy, spurring the collective imagination in its constant aspiration to embody mythical forms. Palestrina himself was probably the first to consciously set the stage for the creation of the myth which would surround him and his work. Already with his earliest publication, the Liber primus missarum of 1554, the entire enterprise seemed fueled by a desire for majesty and success, from the large format of the volume to the meticulously prepared graphics, from the dedication to a great ecclesiastical personage (Pope Julius III) to - last but not least - the musical contents: Masses of contrapuntal and formal perfection, exemplifying a masterful use of all the important compositional techniques of the tim