Justin Appel

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent. Tonight, we mark the beginning of the fast with a Eucharistic service that contains the Imposition of Ashes. This rite, in the Book of Common Prayer, is followed immediately with a recitation of Psalm 51. At Saint Philip’s, these two elements occur simultaneously, as the choir sings a setting of the psalm, usually known by the Latin title, Miserere, while the congregation receives the ashes on the forehead. Although we have a tradition of singing the early-17th-century setting by Gregorio Allegri, famously composed to be sung in the Sistine Chapel, I am very fond of a modern setting by the Scottish composer James MacMillan.

Part of the interest of this setting is the variety of musical elements that lead us through a lengthy, supplicatory text. MacMillan includes a beautiful Scottish ballad, presented in both minor and major, an almost ‘Moorish’ set of melodies (marked ‘keening, crying’ in the score), declamatory chords, a harmonized Gregorian psalm tone, and some soulful melismising (singing of melodies with one vowel sound). Together, all of this material makes for an unfailingly varied and emotionally moving recitation of the psalm. I especially love the ending, a section which sounds very Scottish, very warm and heart-rending (starting at measure 167).

You can listen to the Sixteen (for whom this setting was written) sing the Miserere here, with the score in view. The Psalm text can be found here.

Yours in Christ,
Justin