William Smyth Rockstro and Donald Francis Tovey

“ If we find it convenient to divide Palestrina's work roughly into three types, we shall be able to take the Missa Papae Marcelli as the crowning representative of his second style. It probably is his greatest work; at all events it continues to make that impression whenever it is read after a long course of his other works; yet there are many masses, too numerous to mention, which cannot easily be considered inferior to it. ”

“ There is probably no respectable school piece of the 16th century, which, if properly performed in a Roman Catholic church, would be quickly distinguishable by ear from the style of Palestrina. But when we find that every addition to our acquaintance with Palestrina's works is an acquisition, not to our notions of the progressive possibilities of 16th-century music, but to our whole sense of style, we may then recognize that we are in the presence of one of the greatest artists of all time. ”

“ A great artist, working within limits so narrow and yet so natural, is fortunately apt to give us exceptional opportunities for acquiring the right kind of experience of his art, since his genius becomes far more prolific than a genius with a wider field for its energies. Yet all 16th-century masters seem to be illuminated by the infallibility of the normal musical technique of their time. ”