Sacred and Secular Music by the Master of Renaissance Polyphony
Tactus SF, the Bay Area Renaissance chorus conducted by Sven Edward Olbash, celebrates the 500th anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, arguably the most-celebrated composer of the Italian Renaissance.
The concert features Palestrina’s splendid mass, Missa Tu Es Petrus, one of the most renowned of Palestrina’s 105 settings of the central liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. This mass, written for six voices in brilliant counterpoint, uses tunes from Palestrina’s motet by the same name, celebrating Jesus’ investiture of his disciple Peter as the “rock of the church” — and, by extension, as Pope: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.”
Along with the mass and the motet, Tactus SF will also sing selections from Musica Transalpina, a 16th century collection of contrafacta—secular love songs adapted to appeal to English-speaking audiences—a testimony to Palestrina’s contemporary international popularity—even in a Protestant country.
A reception will follow the concert.