Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina was a sixteenth-century Italian composer of sacred music, operating in Rome for most of his career. There is a myth surrounding Palestrina claiming that he saved church music. The story is that the members of the Council of Trent were preparing to ban polyphonic music in the church but changed their minds after hearing a piece by Palestrina. The story is not true, but it reflects a key fact about his life, meaning his dedication to sacred music and his desire to satisfy the church leaders of his time ("Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina" para. 1).
             Palestrina was born in Rome in 1525 and died in that city in 1594. He took his name from his birthplace of Palestrina. He was chorister at St. Maria Maggiore in Rome from 1537, becoming organist and choirmaster in Palestrina in 1544. hen the Bishop became Pope Julius III in 1550, he summoned Palestrina to Rome to be choirmaster of Cappella Giulia, a nursery for the Sistine Choir. Palestrina published his Book of Masses in 1551. When a new Pope was named in 1555, he dismissed Palestrina and two others from the Sistine Choir because they were married. Palestrina then became choirmaster of St. John Lateran, replacing Lassus. It was there he wrote his Lamentations. He resigned in a dispute in 1560 ("Biography of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina" para. 1).
             In 1563, thre composer published his first book of motets. He then resigned in 1567 to enter the service of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este after becoming dissatisfied with the papal reforms of church music, new rules that rendered two of his masses unliturgical because they contained words foreign to the mass. Others of his masses also included secular songs, such as L'Homme armé. The cardinal had a musical establishment at his palace in Tivoli (the Villa d'Este), and in 1571, he made Palestrina the diretor of the Cappella Giulia. Over the next few years, Palestrina lost both his sons and his wife to epidemi...