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Musical Chapel of the Milan Duomo, a year in the sign of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

The review kicks off Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m.

at the Church of San Gottardo in Corte

as part of the “Scuola della Cattedrale”

 

Cappella Musicale, quinto centenario della nascita di Giovanni da Palestrina

 

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On the occasion of the five hundredth anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594), the Musical Chapel of the Milan Duomo, Milan’s oldest cultural institution, active since 1402, is proposing, starting November 21, 2024, “Un anno nel segno di Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina”: a series of twelve concerts celebrating the princeps musicæ.

 

In the setting of the “Scuola della Cattedrale”, a cycle of cultural insights conceived and curated by the Archpriest of the Duomo Monsignor Gianantonio Borgonovo, the Church of San Gottardo in Corte will be the privileged place for such a review, “artists’ church” in the Milanese tradition, made possible thanks to the support of Intesa Sanpaolo, with a complete itinerary through the most evocative pages of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s polyphony.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance. His contrapuntal skill allowed him to create complex and at the same time intelligible compositions with an aesthetic purity that has become an indispensable point of reference in the history of music. As Francesco Flora has written: ‘Whoever says Palestrina, says the synthesis of the great labour from Gregorian chant to Flemish music, a synthesis accomplished with that spirit with which Masaccio painted the Carmine Chapel or, indeed, with that ductile power of inventive absorption that Raphael brought to painting the Stanze and the Logge. In the Form, the divine and the terrestrial become in harmony, with an awareness of supreme serenity’ (from Apologia del Cinquecento in Storia della Letteratura italiana, 1962, vol. II, p. 205).

The first concert will be held on Thursday 21 November 2024 at 7.30 p.m. with offertories for the Advent Time from the Offertoria totius anni (Venetijs, Apud Angelum Gardanum 1594). Admission to the concerts (with the exception of the one scheduled for 15 December at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan) is free with compulsory booking near each event from the official website duomomilano.it.

 

For the 21 November concert, bookings will open from 12 noon on 7 November.

 

Monsignor Massimo Palombella, Maestro Direttore of the Musical Chapel of the Milan Duomo says: ‘The mission of a Musical Chapel is to proclaim the Gospel through its professionalism, through study, through a diuturnal work of research on the sources and an aesthetic relevance of what it performs. Professionalism is what ensures the fulfilment of its first mandate, which is precisely to evangelise through art. On the other hand, an evangelisation without culture runs the risk of grasping hermeneutics and slipping into ideology. This is why celebrating the 500th anniversary of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s birth is first and foremost a process not of emulation, but of declension. The serious study of the past only makes sense if it allows us to live intensely in the present. This twelve-concert journey will lead us to get to know, beyond musical technique, a man – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – who, with his art and his contrapuntal wisdom, was able to interpret a text and make it resonate, making the faith of the Church at a precise moment in history plastic and usable’.

 

All performances will rely on new critical editions (based on the oldest or most authoritative source available) and will include the realisation of colores minores, ‘mutated notes’ and the practice of diminutions.

 

On Monday, 27 January 2025, at 6.30 p.m., there will be a founding meeting to deepen the celebration of the anniversary of the fifth centenary of the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, most characteristically presented in the format of the conferences of the “Scuola della Cattedrale”, with the presence of the Musical Chapel.

This page dedicated to the review Un anno nel segno di Palestrina on the official website duomomilano.it gather all the sources for a relevant and scientific approach to the great composer’s work.

 

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CALENDAR AND PROGRAMME

UN ANNO NEL SEGNO DI GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA

 

1. Thursday 21 November 2024, 7.30 pm – Church of San Gottardo in Corte (entrance from Via Palazzo Reale, 4)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Offertoria totius anni – Advent Time

(Venetijs, Apud Angelum Gardanum 1594)

Ad te levavi; Deus, tu conversus; Benedixisti, Domine; Ave Maria

Free admission with reservations required at duomomilano.it starting at 12 noon on Nov. 7

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2. Sunday 15 December 2024, 8.30 pm – Teatro alla Scala di Milano

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Missa Papae Marcelli

(Missarum Liber Secundus [Romae, Apud Haeredes Valerii et Aloysii Doricorum fratum Brixiensium 1567])

Concert in aid of Caritas Ambrosiana, tickets on sale starting from 22 October on aragorn.vivaticket.it

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3. Thurdsay 23 January 2025, 7.30 pm – Church of San Gottardo in Corte (entrance from Via Palazzo Reale, 4)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Missa Brevis

(Missarum Liber Tertius [Romae, Apud Haeredes Valerii et Louisii Doricorum Fratrum 1570])

Free entrance with compulsory booking at duomomilano.it

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4. Thursday 20 February 2025, 7.30 pm – Church of San Gottardo in Corte (entrance from Via Palazzo Reale, 4)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Missa Iste confessor

(Missarum Liber Quintus [Romae, Sumptibus Iacobi Berichiae 1590, Apud Franciscum Coattinum])

Free entrance with compulsory booking at duomomilano.it

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5. Thursday 13 March 2025, 7.30 pm – Church of San Gottardo in Corte (entrance from Via Palazzo Reale, 4)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Offertoria totius anni Lenten Time

(Venetijs, Apud Angelum Gardanum 1594)

Exaltabo te, Domine; Scapulis suis; Meditabor in mandatis tuis; Iustitiae Domini rectae; Laudate Dominum; Confitebor tibi, Domine; Improperium expectavit

Free entrance with compulsory booking at duomomilano.it

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6. Thursday 3 April 2025 – 7.30 pm – Church of San Gottardo in Corte (entrance from Via Palazzo Reale, 4)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Holy Week in Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Vexilla Regis [Inno – Hymn] [Archivio Lateranense, Codice 59, ff. 75v-77]; Pueri Hebraeorum [Liber II Motectorum Quatuor Vocum (Mediolani, Apud Franciscum & Hæredes Simonis Tini 1587); Cantus: Mottetorum Quatuor Vocibus. Liber Secundus [Venetiis, Apud Haeredem Hieronymi Scoti 1596]; Miserere [Cappella Sistina 205-206, ff. 12v-14r, 16v-19r]; Feria VI in Parasceve, Lectio II [Lamentationum Hieremiae Profetae. Liber Primus (Romae, Apud Alexandrum Gardanum 1588]; Popule meus [Archivio Lateranense, Codice 59, ff. 89v-90]; Adoramus te, Christe [Liber II Motectorum Quatuor Vocum (Mediolani, Apud Franciscum & Hæredes Simonis Tini 1587); Cantus: Mottetorum Quatuor Vocibus. Liber Secundus [Venetiis, Apud Haeredem Hieronymi Scoti 1596]; Sabbato Sancto, Lectio III [Lamentationum Hieremiae Profetae. Liber Primus (Romae, Apud Alexandrum Gardanum 1588].

Free entrance with compulsory booking at duomomilano.it

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7. Thursday 8 May 2025, 7.30 pm – Church of San Gottardo in Corte (entrance from Via Palazzo Reale, 4)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Offertoria totius anniEaster Time

(Venetijs, Apud Angelum Gardanum 1594)

Terra tremuit; Angelus Domini; Deus, Deus meus; Lauda anima mea Dominum; Iubilate Deo; Benedicite gentes; Ascendit Deus; Confirma hoc, Deus

Free entrance with compulsory booking at duomomilano.it

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8. Thursday 12 June 2025, 7.30 pm – Church of San Gottardo in Corte (entrance from Via Palazzo Reale, 4)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Motettorum quinque vocibus. Liber quartusSong of Songs

(Romae, Apud Alexandrum Gardanum, 1583/1584)

Osculetur me; Trahe me post te; Nigra sum, sed formosa; Vulnerasti cor meum; Vox dilecti mei; Surge, propera; Pulchra es; Quam pulchra es; Veni, dilecte mi

Free entrance with compulsory booking at duomomilano.it

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9. Thursday 25 September 2025, 7.30 pm – Church of San Gottardo in Corte (entrance from Via Palazzo Reale, 4)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Missa Aeterna Christi munera

(Missarum Liber Quintus [Romae, Sumptibus Iacobi Berichiae 1590, Apud Franciscum Coattinum])

Free entrance with compulsory booking at duomomilano.it

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 10. Thursday 23 October 2025, 7.30 pm – Church of San Gottardo in Corte (entrance from Via Palazzo Reale, 4)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Motecta Festorum Totius Anni cum Communi Sanctorum Liber Primus

(Venetijs, Apud filios Antonij Gardani 1571)

Dies sanctificatus; Tribus miraculis; Ave Maria; Iesu iunxit se; O Rex gloriae; Loquebantur variis linguis; Exaudi Domine

Free entrance with compulsory booking at duomomilano.it

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11. Thursday 20 November 2025, 7.30 pm – Church of San Gottardo in Corte (entrance from Via Palazzo Reale, 4)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Hymni totius anni (Romae, Apud Iacobum Tornerium & Bernardinum Donangelum 1589; Lateran Archive, Codex 59); Magnificat Octo Tonum. Liber Primus (Romae, Apud Alexandrum Gardanum 1591)

(In Adventu Domini: Conditor alme siderum; In Nativitate et Circumcisione Domini: Christe Redemptor omnium; In Dominicis Quadragesimae: Audi benigne Conditor; In festo Pentecostes: Veni creator Sipiritus; Magnigicat Octavi Toni [VIII])

Free entrance with compulsory booking at duomomilano.it

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12. Thursday 11 December 2025, 7.30 pm – Church of San Gottardo in Corte (entrance from Via Palazzo Reale, 4)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Liber II Motectorum Quatuor Vocum

(Mediolani, Apud Franciscum & Hæredes Simonis Tini 1587); Cantus: Mottetorum Quatuor Vocibus. Liber Secundus (Venetiis, Apud Haeredem Hieronymi Scoti 1596)

Domine, quando veneris; Commissa mea pavesco; Super flumina Babilonis; Ad te levavi oculos meos; Miserere nostri, Domine; Ad Dominum cum tribularer; Sagittae potentis acutae; Ego sum panis vivus; Sicut cervus; Sitivit anima mea; Confitemini Domino

Free entrance with compulsory booking at duomomilano.it

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 With the support of

 

Loghi istituzionali della Scuola della Cattedrale (Musica) e della Cappella Musicale del Duomo di Milano

 

FOR INFORMATION AND RESERVATIONS:

Scuola della Cattedrale

A year in the sign of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Via Carlo Maria Martini, 1 – I – 20122 Milan

[email protected]