Sistine Chapel Choir / Massimo Palombella O CRUX BENEDICTA

With a history that stretches back some 1500 years, this is the oldest choir still active in the world today. Part of its significance lies in the fact that it has kept going down through the centuries, most importantly during the critically important period of the Renaissance, when it found its own natural “theatre” in the Sistine Chapel. With all its frescoes, this chapel stands as a monument to beauty, and its distinctive acoustic has influenced all the choir’s accumulated repertoire, one which strikes a perfect balance between tradition and modernity. A jewel that will be passed down to future generations with all its spiritual and artistic beauty intact.

But there is more to the Sistine Chapel Choir than just its cultural legacy: it plays an active part during the papal celebrations in St Peter’s Basilica, and in the Sistine Chapel itself. As the Holy Father’s personal choir, it is called upon to play an ecumenical role, and be part of the relationship between the various Christian confessions, contributing to bringing together in art what has been separated by history and politics. This mission has led us into dialogue with leading choirs around the world, to undertaking international tours and to making our work known through recordings of our repertoire on Deutsche Grammophon.

Sistine Chapel Choir / Massimo Palombella / Cecilia Bartoli VENI DOMINE

The music collections of the Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) are among the largest and most significant in the world, and have since the late 18th century been an essential resource for the study of music history and for musicolo- gical research. The finest polyphonic works of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, most of which are to be found in the Cappella Sistina and Cappella Giulia collections, have long been studied by scholars from around the world, but have become even more popular since they were transferred from the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s to the Vatican Library itself (the Cappella Giulia material was moved in the 1930s and 1940s, the Sistine Chapel material a few decades earlier), when new indices and catalogues made them more easily accessible. The director of the Sistine Chapel Choir is in the fortunate position of having access to all the music resources of the Vatican Library. With that good fortune, however, comes a two-fold responsibility: firstly, that of rescuing long-forgotten works from neglect; and secondly, that of trying out performance practices that translate the notes on the page into patterns of sound, by comparing manuscripts and early print editions, and using all the studies and other information available to us today. 

Given the immense quantity of material housed in the Library, any search of it has to be narrowed down. For this album, for which our primary source was the Vatican Library’s Sistine Chapel collection, we decided to focus on the liturgical period of Advent and Christmas, further refining our search by consulting the various sources that describe papal celebrations over the centuries and the use of music therein. As a final search criterion, we looked at the frequency with which different works were performed as part of these papal celebrations.

Sistine Chapel Choir / Massimo Palombella PALESTRINA Missa Papae Marcelli - Motets

Deutsche Grammophon launched its latest exclusive collaboration with the Sistine Chapel Choir on Friday 7 October with a press conference and special concert at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Members of the Vatican clergy were joined by dignitaries, diplomats and representatives of the international media to hear performances of a selection of works from the Choir’s new album. Palestrina, only the second recording to be made under studio conditions in the Sistine Chapel, follows the yellow label’s pioneering release of Cantate Domino in September 2015. It comprises the world premiere recording of the 1567 first edition of Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli together with a selection of motets conveying the essential message of divine generosity and compassion. The album celebrates the “Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy” (8 December 2015 to 20 November 2016), defined by Pope Francis as “a revolution of tenderness and love”.

“We are delighted that our exclusive relationship with the Sistine Chapel Choir continues to grow and supports such uplifting music-making,” notes Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon. “Palestrina, recorded in the very place where the composer worked, unites the human and the divine spirit in the purity of its polyphony and the mystical beauty of its sounds. This new album flows from the open-hearted nature of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. We hope that Palestrina will inspire listeners with its music of divine compassion and love.”

Massimo Palombella, director of the Sistine Chapel Choir, explored the vast resources of the Vatican’s library in search of music with the power to transcend personal fears and offer comfort in our troubled times. He discovered that the earliest publication of Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli differed from the modern editions usually employed for performances and recordings. Monsignor Palombella transcribed the original version into modern notation and worked with his Choir to try and recreate the way in which the Mass might have been performed by the Sistine Chapel singers during Palestrina’s lifetime.

In addition to the Missa Papae Marcelli, Massimo Palombella chose to record nine liturgical motets by the composer on the theme of mercy. These include Ad te levavi oculos meos, a tour de force of contrapuntal invention, and the world premiere recordings of Veritas mea et misericordia mea and Iubilate Deo. Palestrina also contains the first recording of Confitemini Domino to be sung by male voices only, as it would have been in the late 1500s.

Monsignor Georg Gänswein, Prefect of the Pontifical Household, welcomes the release of Palestrina and underlines the value of recording to the Vatican’s mission to reach out to all souls. “Pope Francis is not only aware that some important works have been recorded in the Sistine Chapel, by the Sistine Chapel Choir”, he observes. “He also completely supports the opening-up of the Chapel. He recognises, too, that Deutsche Grammophon is not just any music company but that it is one of the world’s leading record labels. This collaboration, therefore, is highly valued by the Sistine Chapel, by the Vatican and by the Catholic Church.”