 right|thumb|200px|giovanni pierluigi da palestrina giovanni pierluigi da palestrina (c. 1525 â 2 february 1594)a eulogy gives his age as 68, and on that basis grove gives a birthdate "almost certainly between 3 february 1525 and 2 february 1526" (the new grove dictionary of music and musicians, 2nd ed., s.v. "palestrina, giovanni pierluigi da" by lewis lockwood, noel o'regan, and jessie ann owens). was an italian renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the roman school of musical composition.jerome roche, palestrina (oxford studies of composers, 7; new york: oxford university press, 1971), isbn 0-19-314117-5. he has had a lasting influence on the development of church music, and his work has often been seen as the culmination of renaissance polyphony. ==biography== palestrina was born in the town of palestrina, near rome, then part of the papal states. documents suggest that he first visited rome in 1537, when he is listed as a chorister at the santa maria maggiore basilica. he studied with robin mallapert and firmin lebel. he spent most of his career in the city. palestrina came of age as a musician under the influence of the northern european style of polyphony, which owed its dominance in italy primarily to two influential netherlandish composers, guillaume dufay and josquin des prez, who had spent significant portions of their careers there. italy itself had yet to produce anyone of comparable fame or skill in polyphony. from 1544 to 1551, palestrina was organist of the principal church (st. agapito) of his native city. his first published compositions, a book of masses, had made so favorable an impression with pope julius iii (previously the bishop of palestrina) that in 1551 he appointed palestrina maestro di cappella or musical director of the cappella giulia, (julian chapel, in the sense of choir), the choir of the chapter of canons at st peter's. this book of masses was the first by a native composer, since in the italian states of palestrina's day, most composers of sacred music were from the low countries, france, portugal,manuel mendes, antÃ³nio carreira, duarte lobo, filipe de magalhÃ£es, fr. manuel cardoso, joÃ£o lourenÃ§o and pero do porto, among many others. or spain. in fact the book was modeled on one by cristÃ³bal de morales: the woodcut in the front is almost an exact copy of the one from the book by the spanish composer. during the next decade, palestrina held positions similar to his julian chapel appointment at other chapels and churches in rome, notably st john lateran, (1555â1560 â a post previously held by [[lassus
1520s_births 1594_deaths Classical_composers_of_church_music Counter-Reformation Italian_classical_composers Madrigal_composers People_from_the_Province_of_Rome Renaissance_composers Roman_school_composers Sacred_music_composers