Communion music
On Palm Sunday, we shall be listening to “Christus factus est pro nobis” by Felice Anerio (c.1560–1614), performed by the Westminster Cathedral Choir.
The text is derived from Philippians 2:8–9: “Christ became obedient for us even unto death, death on the cross.”
Anerio, a lifelong resident of Rome, succeeded Palestrina in 1594 as official composer to the papal choir, and his style reflects the influence of the older composer but with greater freedom of modality and an expressive intensity of his own.