Magellan's Log: Miserere Mei: Introduction

MISERERE

Sometime during his career as a singer in the Papal choir in the Sistine Chapel, Gregorio Allegri (1582 - 1652) composed a setting of Psalm 51 (Psalm 50 in the Vulgate). One of the so-called penitential psalms, Number 51 is filled with lamentation about one's sinful origin and sin-filled life, ending with a plea for cleansing and forgiveness.

As legend has it, the piece, which came to be known as the "Miserere" (from the opening words: "Miserere mei"--"Have mercy on me"), was a papal favorite. A prohibition was put in place: no copies were to be made. Allegri's "Miserere" was to be performed only in the Sistine Chapel.

Further legend has it that on one of the tours that Leopold Mozart arranged for his prodigy-son, the boy Mozart heard the "Miserere," and immediately afterward wrote out the complete score from memory. We have only anecdotal evidence that this happened. No such score survives in Mozart's hand.

A funny thing happened to Allegri's work on the way to the future. Over the decades, performers in the Papal choir improvised a a new part, a soaring obbligato reaching to a high C, a singing line far above the rather simple, straightforward chant that Allegri had composed, not unlike a jazz singer doing a riff above the chord progression. The effect is of that soul having taken wing, escaping the worrisome world of ten thousand things with its uncleanliness that so bothered the psalmist.

The limitations of midi can hardly do the piece justice, but here it is, with a slideshow of trans-religious imagery. Note: Religionists rigidly convinced that theirs is the one true path will be offended by the mixture of images.

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Click here to read a line by line comparison of the English and Latin versions.

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