Miserere

   A setting of Psalm 51 by Gregorio Allegri (1582–1652), it was for centuries the most celebrated piece in the repertory of the papal choir in Rome. Allegri composed it in 1638, and thereafter its transmission was forbidden, but Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart supposedly wrote it out in 1770 after two hearings, and the historian Charles Burney (1726–1814) was given a copy in Milan the same year. Modern editions derive from 19th-century sources.

   Burney opined that it is the performance of the work in the near total darkness of Tenebrae services rather than the music itself that impressed, and indeed the work is merely an alternatim setting in falsobordone, whereby a verse chanted in loud monotone is answered by another verse sung by one choir in four voices or another choir in five. The final verse is sung by the combined choirs in nine voices. The simplicity is enlivened by largely oral traditions of embellishment. The work requires nearly 15 minutes to perform.

   See also A cappella; Cori Spezzati.