On this day, Feb. 3, 1525 or 1526 (scholars can’t be certain), composer Giuseppe Pierluigi da Palestrina was born in the town of Palestrina, Italy.
He is among the towering figures of late 16th-century music. And while he mostly wrote church music, his madrigals are also considered important.
According to Grove Music Online, he is "among the native Italian musicians of the 16th century who sought to assimilate the richly developed polyphonic techniques of their French and Flemish predecessors, none mastered these techniques more completely or subordinated them more effectively to the requirements of musical cogency."
