Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's Missarum liber quintus (Masses, Volume 5, published in Rome in 1590) is devoted almost entirely to the so-called "parody mass" genre pioneered by the followers of Josquin Des Près and brought to new heights by Palestrina in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Not a single freely composed item is present in the volume, and only a few "paraphrase masses" are thrown into the mix. The five-voice parody mass Missa nigra sum is a prime example of Palestrina's ability to adapt material to suit his own very unique contrapuntal needs.

While Palestrina himself did compose a motet on the Nigra sum text, it was not this work but rather a 1532 motet by L'Héritier that the composer used as a parody-model when composing the Missa nigra sum. The usual five sections of the Mass Ordinary-Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei—are given fully polyphonic treatment by Palestrina; as the work is cyclic, the same basic point of imitation is used to start each of the five major sections and a number of the smaller subordinate passages. The Kyrie text is set in three sections (Kyrie I, Christe, Kyrie II), each of which takes off on a different imitative subject. Those who consider Palestrina to be an exclusively contrapuntal composer who paid little attention to the subtleties of harmony and structure would do well to examine the respective cadences of the three sections (C-G, D-A, G-D), which, though explainable in hypoaeolian terms (transposed to the D tonal level), are much more simply and accurately understood as approaching the modern harmonic system's preference for motion around the circle of fifths.

Already at the beginning of the Gloria Palestrina has begun tinkering with the polyphonic cell he borrowed from L'Héritier: a tenor entry is added before the already-established altus/cantus imitation begins to unfold, which is then very cleverly modified to suit the slightly-changed harmonic environment. Following his usual manner, Palestrina divides the Gloria text at the words "Qui tollis peccata mundi", setting the two portions to musical passages of almost exactly equal length.

The lengthy Credo text is set in three sections, the middle of which only employs four of the five voices. Both the opening and middle sections grow from adaptations of the same polyphonic cell that began the Kyrie and Gloria, while the last portion develops along different lines (we will see this melodic material again at the opening of the Hosanna portion of the Sanctus). A colorful and appropriately celebratory move to ternary rhythm is made as the text professes belief in the Holy Spirit and goes on to celebrate the glory of "Father and Son".

The three basic elements of the Sanctus text are fashioned into three wholly separate musical sections: Sanctus, Hosanna, and Benedictus. The Sanctus is itself divided down the middle, the second half being written (as is the Benedictus) for just four voices.

Agnus Dei I begins in a fashion almost exactly parallel to the Kyrie, though Palestrina allows the imitative texture to thicken at a much greater and more climactic pace than he did at the beginning of the Mass. Agnus Dei II takes the same upward-leaping gesture found in the Hosanna and last portion of the Gloria and presents it in a new, far more dramatic light (the initial expressive leap, already expanded from a fourth to a fifth at the beginning of the Agnus Dei II, soon grows to span a full octave). As the music unfolds, striking use is made of open fifths and, during the last half, of descending octave scales.



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