Missa Papae Marcelli by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525 - 1594)

We listened to the entire mass in class on Thursday and I was really struck by how chordal much of this music sounds.  It is so beautiful and full sounding.  Many of the movements are very homophonic that it is hard to remember this is music of the renaissance still and not something more modern.  The mass was composed in honor of Pope Marcellus II who was only the pope for three weeks.  It was probably composed sometime in the 1560's and was possibly in response to the claim that polyphonic music was getting too unintelligible.  This would explain the prominence of block chords, homophonic textures, very little overlapping of texts, and overall modern sound that I hear when I listen to this music.  There are some legends about this piece proving to the council of Trent the beauty of polyphonic music, and therefore stopping them from banning it outright.  It could be an interesting topic to look into more.  Maybe there is a movie about it...