Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was born February 3rd, 1525 or February 2nd, 1526 in Palestrina. Although I found another source that says he could have been born as early as 1515. Because he lived over five hundred years ago, historians are not sure exactly when or where he was born. Up until he was about thirteen, he was a choirboy at St. Maria Maggiore, Rome. After that he became the church's organist. In 1547 he married Lucrezia Gori and had three children. Palestrina was taught by Jacques Arcadelt in Rome. After moving to Rome in 1551, he was commissioned for the first time by Pope Julius III and composed his first works in 1554; Pope Julius III being his patron. The next pope, Julius IV, fired Palestrina because he had a wife. In the 1571, Palestrina became a priest and shortly after that, lost both of his sons and his wife, in 1581. After the death of his wife he gave up priesthood and remarried. Palestrina died February 2, 1594, in Rome(Catholic Encyclopedia).