Echoes of Eternity: Music of Palestrina and his contemporaries | Oxford Pro Musica

Celebrating Palestrina’s 500th Anniversary with Missa Papae Marcelli and music by his contemporaries including Victoria, Lobo and others.

If the troubles of this world are weighing too heavily, or if you simply love the music of the renaissance, Oxford Pro Musica Singers invite you to join us for an evening of transportive music giving access to a more beautiful, timeless place. Palestrina’s serene yet soaring Missa Papae Marcelli (c1562), written in honour of Pope Marcellus II and often considered to be the saving grace of polyphony, is the mighty central pillar of this programme celebrating 500 years of the ‘eternal father of Italian music’, in Verdi’s phrase.

The movements of the mass will be interspersed with contrasting and complementary motets by Palestrina’s luminous contemporaries from several nations, to include Victoria’s radiant eight-part ‘Ave Maria’, Sheppard’s sublime ‘Libera nos I’, Lobo’s searing funeral motet for Philip II of Spain, ‘Versa est in luctum’, and Mouton’s exquisitely crafted ‘Nesciens mater’. The intricate fretwork of the lines and purity of the soundworld are guaranteed to offer an evening of soothing sanctuary, allowing you to capture and take away with you some precious echoes of eternity.

We’re looking forward to returning to St Barnabas Church, one of our favourite venues in Oxford.