[ noun ] Italian composer (1526-1594) <noun.person>
There is an a cappella double chorus (Gounod adored Palestrina); elsewhere the smooth surface is ruffled by chromatic flurries, and there are hints (quite sinister in this context) of the whole-tone scale.
No one knows what music in the hand of Palestrina or Scarlatti or Monteverdi looks like: no certain examples have emerged.
Earlier this year the Tallis Scholars took their Palestrina to Rome.