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The Italian early Baroque composer Orazio Benevoli held several positions as maestro di cappella in Rome before finally assuming one of the most prestigiousposts in the peninsula—that of maestro di cappella of the Cappella Giulia at St. Peter’s. Benevoli’s masses generally continue the tradition established by Paletrina, although many of his works show a forward-looking technique. Character istics of Benevoli’s style are a progressive tendency towards modern major-minor harmonies and tonality, and the inciple, inherited from Palestrina and the venetian school, of interlocking blocks of choral sound, sometimes polyphonic, sometimes homophonic.