Miserere

Psalm 50/51 is a text we associate with Ash Wednesday and with the daily office of Lauds on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday (today we often celebrate a single service called ‘Tenebrae’).

Most of us have probably heard the famous Miserere setting by Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652). In fact, Allegri’s setting, which was written to be sung by the Capella Sistina, has a such a complex and storied lineage that the modern version we know is quite different from Allegri’s original. The present version with its famous high C seems to be the product of many separate versions, including the 14-year-old Amadeus Mozart’s transcription from memory in 1770 —which was preserved by the English composer and historian Charles Burney (1726-1814)—a version by the Roman priest-monk Pietro Alfieri (1801-1863), and even a separate edition by Felix Mendelssohn in 1831. Really, it’s remarkable that anything of Allegri’s original survived such intense interest, wrangling, and fusing by the adoring public over several hundred years!

A second and contemporary setting of the full psalm is the Miserere by Scottish composer James MacMillan (b. 1959). Like the “Allegri” setting, Macmillan’s work combines chant, falsobordone (a kind of harmonized melodic writing), and imitative choral sections, but to these he adds melodic material of an almost Moorish quality and a traditional Scottish ballad at the end. Give this one a chance, and you will love it as much as the Allegri!

Justin Appel, Director of Music