As we enter our last few days of preparations of our trip to Palestrina and to sing at the Papal Mass in St Peter’s Basilica on the Feast of Pentecost, it was special to sing Palestrina’s masterpiece Missa Papae Marcelli today at the Pro-Cathedral.
This Mass  was sung at Papal Coronation Masses (the last being the coronation of Paul VI in 1963) and it also holds a very important place in the history of the Palestrina Choir:

• This Mass was composed in honour of Pope Marcellus II, who was Pope for three weeks in 1555, is often cited as the most perfect example of rich, complex polyphony.
• in the late 16th century, a legend began that polyphony might have been banned by the Council of Trent because of the unintelligibility of the words, was the impetus behind Palestrina's composition of this mass. It was believed that the simple, declamatory style of Missa Papae Marcelli convinced Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, on hearing, that polyphony could be intelligible, and that music such as Palestrina's was all too beautiful to ban from the Church.
• The Palestrina Choir had its origins in a boys’ choir formed in the 1890’s by Dr. Vincent O’Brien, then a music teacher at St. Mary’s Place Christian Brothers School in Dublin. It was at a performance of Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli at St. Teresa’s Carmelite Church in Clarendon Street in 1898 that this choir, and its gifted director, first came to the attention of Edward Martyn.

And so today, celebrating the Feast of the Ascension, with next stop Cattedrale di Sant'Agapito martire, Palestrina on Friday at which we will sing the resplendant and powerful Missa Papae Marcelli, it was wonderful, and relieving, to hear the choir singing this polyphony in such a confident and shapely way.  
 
More information on the tour to Palestrina, St Peter’s Basilica and Basilica of San Silvestro to follow soon.

As part of the Palestrina Choir 120 celebrations, what a wonderful mini-tour to Cork City, Cobh and Mount Melleray Abbey.
The Choir had the great privilege of being part of the Cork International Choral Festival (thank you to Festival Artistic Director Peter Stobart) and to give concerts in two wonderful Cathedrals: St Fin Barre’s (Cork City) and St Colman’s (Cobh). The choir also had the special opportunity of joining with the Cathedral Choir of St Fin Barre’s in singing Choral Evensong wonderfully accompanied by Matthew Breen, newly appointed Assistant Director at St Fin Barre's. During this beautiful service, we were able to give a choir medallion to Christopher Costello, now in his 80s, who has spent his adult life in Cork, but who started out as a boy chorister in the Palestrina Choir.