In 2025, we mark the 500th anniversary of one of the most influential composers in the history of music—Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–1594). He was the chief composer of the Vatican during the Counter-Reformation, and his music was performed throughout Europe, including Lithuania.
Palestrina’s influence on the music of his time and future generations is unparalleled. Johann Sebastian Bach, for example, closely studied Palestrina’s music, copied his Masses, and performed them. Palestrina also had a profound impact on the court of the House of Vasa: three of his direct students—Annibale Stabile, Asprilio Pacelli, and Giovanni Francesco Anerio—worked as kapellmeisters at the Vasa court from the late 16th century. Today’s musicologists suggest that through these students, Palestrina’s music evolved in Lithuania. Without his legacy, the landscape of Lithuania’s musical heritage would not be the same.

Canto Fiorito — Lithuania’s most active early music ensemble, celebrates this monumental anniversary with an eight-concert cycle. Their new program features works by Palestrina and his students who served at the Vasa court, performed a cappella by six Lithuanian singers, conducted by the ensemble’s artistic director Rodrigo Calveyra, who has deeply studied Palestrina’s compositional art.

The centrepiece of the program is the historically significant Mass “Missa Papae Marcelli”—one of the most important compositions of all time. During the Council of Trent (1562–1563), Church authorities debated banning polyphonic music from Catholic worship due to its perceived obscurity and difficulty in understanding sung texts. Had this ban adopted, music history might have taken a dramatically different course.

It was in this context that Palestrina composed the Mass Missa Papae Marcelli, dedicated to Pope Marcellus II. With its clear, expressive text setting, this work convinced Cardinal Carlo Borromeo that polyphony could indeed be intelligible and that music of such beauty as Palestrina’s should not be excluded from the church. Alongside the Mass, the program will include Palestrina’s Lamentations of Jeremiah, a motet based on the Song of Songs, and motets by his students A. Stabile and A. Pacelli, both of whom worked at the Vasa court.

This concert cycle by Canto Fiorito seeks to honour and revive the legacy of this magnificent composer—so significant to Lithuania’s musical heritage—and to celebrate the 500th anniversary of one of the greatest music creators of all time.

Project funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture
Organised by Canto Fiorito (more at www.cantofiorito.lt)