Alma Redemptoris Mater a 8 (Capella Giulia ms)

This setting of the Marian votive antiphon Alma Redemptoris Mater is scored for double choir (SATB.SATB), creating a rich and sonorous texture. Palestrina’s music masterfully conveys the text’s devotion, beginning with an invocation to the Mother of the Redeemer, the heavenly gate and star of the sea, who aids her falling people. The music reflects the wonder of her conceiving her holy Creator, a virgin before and after, receiving Gabriel’s Ave, and pleading for mercy for sinners. Dating from the late 16th century, this arrangement comes from the Capella Giulia manuscript, a significant source of Roman polyphony from Palestrina’s time.