Canticum Canticorum (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina)

Canticum Canticorum (Song of Solomon) is a cycle of 29 motets by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Originally titled Motettorum - Liber Quartus, this Renaissance work is one of Palestrina's largest collections of Sacred motets.

The work is in Latin and based upon excerpts from the book in the The Song of Songs of the Old Testament. The Song of Songs is thought to be an allegorical representation of the relationship of God and Israel as husband and wife. The text uses the main image of a man and wife almost throughout, the poem suggesting movement from courting to consummation.

Palestrina's setting of the text is scored for 5 voices: SATTB (1 - 18, 29), SAATB (19 - 22, 27 - 28), and SSATB (23 - 26); and was published, after revision, by Breitkopf and Härtel in the collection Palestrina Werke, vol. 4.

Canticum Canticorum was written in the year 1584. This work, as with many of Palestrina's works around this time, was dedicated to Pope Gregory XIII. The work can, however, also be seen as a social statement which challenged what music was commonly accepted in the church at the time.

It is assumed that during its composition, he kept in mind that other church composers had lost their jobs for composing madrigals, and he, also being guilty of this fault, would ‘repent’ by composing music that celebrates divine love. His illustration of passion in this piece exceeds that of any of his other sacred works. Through the work, Palestrina insists upon the independence of musicians, firstly through the composition thereof, and secondly through admitting awareness of what he has created - a musical setting of profane love songs, but ultimately a celebration of divine love. Palestrina famously declared: "Sic enim rem ipsam postulare intelligebam" - indicating that he realised that he was creating something new which may not be suitable for use in the church. He did, however, continue to refer to the motets as sacred.

The entire piece forms a dramatic lyric consisting of a series of individual motets. The work is also divided into larger sections, or episodes, distinguishable by mode. It is often questioned whether the motets were designed to be performed as a whole or separately, although it seems Palestrina attempted to arrange the text according to coherence and climax - strong evidence that the work is of a single design.

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