
Giovanni Palestrina
1525 - 1594
"Prince of Music"
Palestrina was the greatest master of Roman Catholic Church Music. His first book of masses, printed 1554, was dedicated to the pope, and the pope in turn rewarded him by making him a member of the Sistine Chapel Choir.
Palestrina's perfected the polyphonic style of writing - many voices, smooth and flowing in canon - each voice imitating the other.