Pope Marcellus Mass

Pope Marcellus Mass, mass by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the best known of his more than 100 masses. Published in 1567, the work is renowned for its intricate interplay of vocal lines and has been studied for centuries as a prime example of Renaissance polyphonic choral music.

Palestrina first went to the Vatican at the behest of Pope Julius III, for whom he composed a great quantity of sacred music, both short works and mass settings. Pope Marcellus Mass was named for the composer’s second papal employer, Marcellus II, who was pope for less than a month in 1555. Palestrina did not complete the mass until about 1561.

In the mid-16th century the Roman Catholic Church convened the Council of Trent to consider adjustments to church policy in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. One element focused on ensuring that the words of any sacred music should be readily understandable and not obscured by musical elaboration. Although Palestrina’s mass makes much use of polyphony—setting several different musical layers against one another simultaneously—he shows a clear preference for “imitative” polyphony, in which the basic melodies and, thus, their words are stated clearly in a single voice before the other layers are gradually added. This technique—most colloquially familiar as the technique used in the nursery song “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”—promoted understanding of the words from the outset.

Palestrina’s choir of six voice parts—soprano, alto, tenor (in two parts), baritone, and bass—is deftly managed for maximum effect, with much interplay between the voices. At the time the piece was written, boy choristers sang the soprano and alto voices, and the entire mass was sung a cappella (without instrumental accompaniment).

The Marcellus is a musical setting of the so-called Ordinary of the mass—that is, the texts that remain constant throughout the annual church calendar. In the Latin mass those include the “Kyrie,” “Gloria,” “Credo,” “Sanctus” (sometimes divided into the “Sanctus” and “Benedictus”), and “Agnus Dei.” In each movement, Palestrina tended to use both imitative polyphonic textures and homophonic ones; in the latter he combined a straightforward single melody with an accompanying harmony. Melodies—whether treated homophonically or polyphonically—often first appear as a cantus firmus (a simple melody usually derived from a preexisting Gregorian chant). The composer then elaborated on this fundamental melodic material.