Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/652

640 recordaremur tui, Sion; in salicibus in medio ejus suspendimus organa nostra,' which are the words of the finest of them all, may well have represented to himself the heart-broken composer mourning by the banks of the Tiber for the lost wife whom he had loved so long.

Upon these, in 1562 [App. p.738 "1582"], followed the fourth in the series of masses for four and five voices, a volume by no means remarkable, save that it was written and dedicated to Gregory at his own request. Palestrina seems to have been aware of its inferiority, and to have resolved to present the Pontiff with something more worthy of them both. He accordingly conceived the idea of composing a series of motetti to words chosen from the Song of Solomon. The execution of these, with the doubtful exception of the Great Mass, was the happiest effort of his genius. In them all his critics and biographers unite to say that he surpassed himself. Flushed with the glorious sense of his success, he carried the book, when completed, in person to Gregory, and laid it at the foot of his chair. It was printed by Gardano in 1584, but so great was its renown that in less than sixty years from the date of its composition it had passed through ten fresh editions at the hands of some half-a-dozen different publishers.

Palestrina had now arrived at the last decade of his life. In it we can trace no diminution of his industry, no relaxation in the fibre or fire of his genius. In 1584 he published, and dedicated to Andrea Battore, nephew of Stephen, King of Poland, who had been created a Cardinal, his fifth volume of motetti for five voices. It is a volume of unequal merit, but it contains one or two of the rarest examples of the master. Such especially are those entitled 'Peccavi, quid faciam tibi, oh custos hominum,' 'Peccavimus cum patribus nostris,' and 'Paucites dierum meorum finietur brevi.' Baini admired these so extravagantly as to say that in writing them Palestrina must have made up his mind to consider himself the simple amanuensis of God! There are four different editions of this work by Scoto of Venice, and the two by the Gardani of Venice and Rome. To the sacred motetti of this volume are prefixed two secular pieces, written to some Latin elegiac verses, in honour of Prince Battore and his uncle. The style of these is light and courtly; rather fit, says Baini, for instruments than the voice; and the rhythm has a smack of the ballo. In the third edition of these motetti, Gardano of Venice published a posthumous motetto, 'Opem nobis, o Thoma, porrige,' in order to sell his book the better.

Palestrina had intended to dedicate the last-mentioned volume to the Pope; but the arrival of Battore, and his kindness to him, made him change his mind. In order however to atone for such a diversion of homage, he sent to Gregory three masses for six voices. Of these the two first were founded on the subjects of his motets 'Viri Galilaei' and 'Dum complerentur.' They had all the beauties of the earlier works, with the result of the maturity of the author's genius and experience superadded. The third, 'Te Deum laudamus,' Baini states to be rather heavy, partly owing, perhaps, to the 'character of the key' in which it is written, but more, probably, from too servile an adherence to the form of an old Ambrosian hymn on which it is founded.

About this time we notice traces of a popular desire to get hold of the lighter pieces of Palestrina. Francesco Landoni possessed himself, for instance, of copies of the two madrigals, 'Vestiva i colli,' and 'Così le chiome mie,' which Vincenzo Galilei had arranged for the lute. He printed them in a miscellaneous volume, entitled 'Spoglia Amorosa,' through Scoto of Venice, in 1585. Gardano of Rome, too, published a collection of madrigals by sundry composers, under the name of 'Dolci Affeti.' Among these there was one of Palestrina's to the words—

and two or three other stray pieces of his were published in like manner about the same time.

In April 1585 Gregory died, and was succeeded by Sixtus V. Palestrina made somewhat too much haste to pay his homage to the new Pontiff. A motetto and a mass each entitled 'Tu es pastor ovium' which he sent to him were so hurriedly composed that on the performance of the mass on Trinity Sunday, Sixtus said a little bluntly, 'Il Pierluigi ha dimendicato la Messa di Papa Marcelli ed i Motetti della Cantica.' These regrettable productions would have been well lost to sight but for the reckless brutality of Igino, who looking only to what money they would fetch, published them after his father's death with a bold-faced inscription to Clement VIII. Palestrina atoned for his misdeed by writing forthwith the beautiful mass, 'Assumpta est Maria in Cœlum.' This masterpiece he had just tune to get printed off without date or publisher's name—there was no time to make written copies of it—before the feast of the Assumption. It was performed before Sixtus in Santa Maria Maggiore on that day (Aug. 15). The delight of the Pontiff was unbounded; but his goodwill took a form which led to the last unpleasant occurrence in Palestrina's life. It will be remembered that he had for many years held the position of Composer to the Apostolic Chapel. The Pope now conceived the idea of investing him with the title and duties of Maestro. He commissioned Antonio Boccapadule, the actual Maestro, to bring about the change. At first sight this seems a strange selection of an agent; for it was Boccapadule who of all others would have to suffer by his own success. It is of course possible that a promise of some higher preferment may have purchased his assistance. Be that as it may, he seems to have set to work with a will. Taking Tommaso Benigni, one of the junior singers, into his confidence, he employed him to sound his brethren. Benigni in a short time announced that there was a respectable number of the college who favoured the Pope's views. The event proved that Benigni either misled his employer, or was himself purposely deceived by those to whom he spoke, or else that he augured