Miserere mei, Deus

Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652)

Allegri’s Miserere is a setting of Psalm 51, and was composed for the office of Tenebrae

during Holy Week at the Sistine Chapel. Vatican manuscripts date the work from around 16381,

during which time Allegri was a singer in the Chapel of Pope Urban VIII. The piece was performed

regularly and exclusively in the Sistine Chapel during the evening services of Holy Week, where it

was protected as a masterpiece of the papal choir. It acquired a reputation that seems surprising for

a piece that is relatively simple in its form and harmonic construction. Legend had it that the

subsequent pope, Innocent X, was so impressed with the piece that he prohibited its performance or

distribution outside of the Sistine chapel, by pain of excommunication. While this threat remains

unsubstantiated, both the English music historian, Charles Burney2, and Leopold Mozart3 made

reference to the ban, and the punishment for breaking it, in their writings.

Today, Allegri’s Miserere is one of the most popular pieces of late Renaissance choral music,

and continues to be performed regularly as part of the Holy Week liturgy in churches with the

choral resources to perform it successfully. However, the form in which it is now most frequently

performed bears little resemblance to that written by Allegri, due to the combined effects of

transcription errors and the lost ornamentation techniques of the papal choir. Nonetheless, this

modern re-working of the piece is widely popular today, despite recent efforts to reconstruct the

earlier work in recordings by noted choral scholars.4

1 Ben Byram-Wigfield, “An Unknown Quantity”, The Musical Times, 138 no. 1854 (Aug 1997): 12

2 Charles Burney, The present state of music in France and Italy (London: Becket & Co, 1773): 287-8. Google e-book.

3 Letter to his wife, April 14, 1770, quoted in Emily Anderson, ed., The Letters of Mozart & his Family (London: Macmillian, 1938), 1:187

4 Examples of recordings based on historical research and contemporary performance practice include Allegri: Miserere, A Sei Voci, dir. Bernard Fabre-Garrus (naïve/Astrée E8909, 1994), and Pachelbelʼs Canon & Other Baroque Favourites, Taverner Consort Choir, dir. Andrew Parrott (EMI Classics 0724348204325, 2005)

Liturgical Context

The service of Tenebrae (lit. “darkness”) was one of the most dramatic and theatrical

liturgical celebrations in the Roman Catholic church. Possibly conceived as a memorial rite for

Christ, it consists of the combined Offices of Matins and Lauds, and was celebrated on the last three

days of Holy Week. The service was originally celebrated after midnight, but in the Middle Ages,

the celebration was moved to the proceeding evening.

What provided the drama was the gradual extinguishing of candles, one after each of fifteen

psalms. As the evening light disappeared, and the candles were extinguished one by one, the

church was brought into darkness, with the exception of a single remaining candle signifying

Christ. This last candle was hidden beneath the altar, signifying the days in the tomb, and the

service continued in darkness. It was in this atmosphere that the final psalm, the “Miserere” was

sung.

The service must have been particularly effective in the Sistine chapel, where masterpieces

of art adorn the walls and ceilings. The acoustics in the chapel are very reverberant, and with the

choir hidden behind the original marble screen, the voices must have seemed to have been coming

from another world. At the time of Allegri’s composition, the upper voices would have been

castrati, whose strange, but reportedly very beautiful tone, would have added to the other-worldly

experience. The nineteenth century French writer, Stendhal, gives a rather colourful account of

hearing the Miserere in the chapel:

“The Miserere, which is performed in the Sistine only on two occasions during Holy Week, and which produces so overwhelming an impression upon newcomers, was composed some two centuries ago by Gregorio Allegri [...]. As the first notes begin to fill the Chapel, Pope and Cardinals prostrate themselves before the altar; the gleam from the candles falls upon

that Last Judgement which Michelangelo painted in fresco on the wall which serves as reredos to the altar.. As the Miserere proceeds, the candles are extinguished one by one; and the faces of the countless Damned, portrayed with such terrifying violence by Michelangelo, grow but the more awesome in the half-light shed by the pale flicker of the last candles that still retain their flame. As the Miserere moves towards its final close, the choirmaster, who is conducting, imperceptibly decreases the tempo; the choristers let their voices die away, the harmonies are gradually extinguished; and the Sinner, confounded in the presence of God in all His majesty, prostrate before His high Throne, seems to await in silence the coming of the Voice that is to judge him.”5

After the singing of the Miserere, the ceremony concluded with a sudden, loud noise,

intended to represent an earthquake - nature in turmoil at the death of Christ. The candle which was

hidden from view was placed at the top of the hearse, signifying the Resurrection. The

congregation then departed in silence.

Historical Context and form of the Miserere

One of the effects of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) was the adoption of a simpler, less

contrapuntal style, where the sacred texts could be more clearly heard. Instruments were to be

avoided, unless providing a discreet accompaniment. This was particularly true of the Sistine

chapel, which was the chapel of the Pope’s official residence. Jean Lionnet6 explains that, as the

pope represented Christ on earth, the papal choir was seen as representing the angelic choir around

God’s throne. As there are no biblical references to instruments used by the angels (with the

exception of the sounding of the trumpets on the last day), the papal choir was obliged to refrain

from using them.

5 Stendhal, Life of Mozart, in Lives of Haydn, Mozart and Metastasio, tr., intr., and ed. by Richard N. Coe (London: Calder & Boyars, 1972), 174-175, quoted in Richard Boursy, “The Mystique of the Sistine Chapel Choir in the Romantic Era”, The Journal of Musicology, 11 no. 3 (Summer, 1993): 277-329

6 Jean Lionnet, “Performance practice in the Papal Chapel during the 17th Century”, Early Music, 15 no. 1 (Feb., 1987), 5

Thus, when Allegri entered the Sistine Chapel choir as an alto in 1629, the music the choir

was singing would have been entirely a capella, and in the refined, elegant style which allowed for

clarity of text without sacrificing a rich harmonic language. Much of Allegri’s work shows

Palestrina’s influence. While his instrumental compositions were modern, embracing the Baroque

style, his work for the Sistine chapel was notably more restrained. Little of his other work is

remembered or performed today.

He was not the first composer to set the Miserere in the particular falsobordone style that

characterizes the 1638 composition. Vatican manuscripts indicate that the tradition of setting Psalm

51 in a falsobordone style alternating with plainchant may have begun as early as 15147. Allegri

would almost certainly have been aware of this when he wrote the piece.

Psalm 51 is the best-known of the seven penitential psalms. It is David’s supplication after

committing adultery with Bathsheba, and deals with the misery of sin and the hope of

reconciliation. Allegri treats each verse separately, using two choirs, spacially separated, and three

different textures.

The first verse is set for the five voiced choir (Choir I) in two musical phrases, each

beginning with a recitation on a chord that allows for declamation of verses of different lengths,

proceeding with simple but compelling panconsonant harmonies, and ending on a dominant chord.

A plainchant verse, sung by the tenors and basses of the choir, is followed by a verse for four-part

choir (Choir II), structured in two phrases like the five-voiced verse, but ending more conclusively

on the tonic major chord. The Choir II verse is also followed by a verse of plainchant.

Using the above pattern, Allegri precedes through the next 15 verses of the psalm. The final

verse “Tunc acceptabis” begins with Choir I alone, but the second phrase requires two choirs to join

together to complete the psalm.

7 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., s.v. “Miserere”

In these details, the piece has essentially survived intact, but in almost all other aspects the

version performed today is very different. Today’s version includes a soaring top C in the treble

line, which is nowhere to be seen in Allegri’s original version. While Allegri’s original set Choir I

for SATTB, today the Miserere is sung with a single tenor part, one of the original voices being

transposed up and allocated to the top Soprano voice. Allegri’s uppermost line has been almost

completely obscured in the harmony and more lavish embellishments of today’s version.

Ben Byram-Wigfield, in his article “An unknown quantity”8 attempts to decipher the

different versions and to trace the history of the piece from its original composition to the form in

which it it now performed.

Early sources of the work

Manuscripts dated around 1638, the time of the composition, still survive in the Vatican

archive. These are manuscripts MSS 205 and 206, which contain the Choir I and Choir II settings

respectively. It is here that we see Allegri’s setting of an SATTB five-voiced choir, and four voiced

SSAB choir. The first verse of the psalm as reflected by MS 205 is shown over:

8 Byram-Wigfield, An Unknown Quantity, 12-21

The Choir II setting is the most changed today, and now includes the “top C” and a changed bass

line in the second phrase. Here is the original as translated from MS 206:

Neither manuscript refers to the the plainchant verses or the tone to which they were sung.

It is likely that different psalm tones were used at different times, and that they may even have been

recited on a single note.

A third Vatican source, MS 185, deals only with Choir I. Dated 1731 and autographed by

Dominic de Biondini, this ascribes the work to Allegri but contains a number of differences,

including the swapping of the tenor and soprano voices mentioned earlier, and with some of the

bass notes changed. There is also more movement in the harmony, and some ornamentation, which,

while not documented in the original, would have been the accepted performing style of the Papal

choir.

The Papal choir was renowned for its skill in free ornamentation of a given melody or

harmony. This was certainly not a skill that was exclusive to the singers of the choir, as it was a

common performing practice in many branches of vocal music, dating back to Renaissance

polyphony. But the Papal choir excelled at it, and many visitors came to the Sistine Chapel, not just

to admire the work of Michelangelo, but also to hear the wonderful effect of the ornamentations.

These ornamentations, called abbellimenti, were subject to certain restrictions of harmony,

cadence, and cadenza, with particular flourishes saved for appropriate points in the music.

While three authorized copies were known to have been permitted to leave the Vatican, one

for the Italian musician and collector of music, Padre Martini, one for the King of Portugal, and one

for the Emperor Leopold I9, these did not include the abbellimenti which made such a difference to

the performance of the work. Leopold had requested the piece from the Pope for the imperial choir

in Vienna, but, having been sent an unornamented copy, complained to the Pope that he had been

sent some inferior work. The maestro di cappella was promptly sacked by the Pope, but was

diplomatically given the chance of saving his job when he explained that the beauty of the music

was a result of the performance technique of the chapel choir. The Pope advised that if he could

explain his case to the Emperor’s satisfaction, he could keep his job. He was eventually re-hired.10

Other copies began to leak out, and Charles Burney makes reference to a copy that was

given to him by the mastro di cappella, Santarelli, in his 1771 book “The present state of music in

France and Italy”.11 Burney was an Englishman, and thus unaffected by the Pope’s threat of

9 Allegriʼs “Miserere”, The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, 26 no. 510 (Aug 1885), 455

10 Ben Byram-Wigfield, “A Quest for the Holy Grail?”, Ancient Groove Music, http://ancientgroove.co.uk/essays/AllegriBook.pdf (accessed Oct 10, 2011), 16

11 Burney, The present state of music, 279-80

excommunication. He published a version the same year, but this version is different again,

showing more polish and elaboration than the Vatican manuscripts. Byrum-Wigfield conjectures

that this version may have been that transcribed by the young Mozart.12 Leopold Mozart claimed

that his son had made a transcription of the piece in a letter to his wife dated 14th April, in which he

says:

“You have often heard of the famous Miserere in Rome, which is so greatly prized that the performers are forbidden on pain of excommunication to take away a single part of it, copy it, or give it to anyone. But we have it already. Wolfgang has written it down and we would have sent it to Salzburg in this letter, if it were not necessary for us to be there to perform it. But the manner of performance contributes more to its effect than the composition itself. Moreover, as it is one of the secrets of Rome, we do not wish to let it fall into other hands.”13

Mozart then visited Padre Martini in Bologna, where he also met Burney. However, no copy

of the Miserere in his hand is known to exist. Whether the version published by Burney was

transcribed by Mozart or not, it effectively ended the Vatican monopoly on its publication.

Mendelssohn’s transcription and the “Top C” version

Other notable composers attempted to transcribe the haunting abellimenti. Mendelssohn

was one of these, and he wrote quite extensively of his visit to the Sistine Chapel, and the effect of

the music, particularly the Miserere. At the time of his visit in 1831, it seemed to have been the

practice to sing the Miserere in a very high key, and his transcription reflects this. Today’s version is

a mix of Burney’s five-voice choir with a Choir II verse partly based on Mendelssohn’s

transcription, which makes its first appearance as an illustrated example in the first edition of

Grove’s Dictionary of Music & Musicians in 1880. This version bizarrely joins Mendelssohn’s

transcription of the embellishments of the first phrase to the choral parts of the second phrase. Not

12 Byram-Wigfield, A Quest for the Holy Grail, 20

13 Anderson, The Letters of Mozart & his Family, 1:187

only does this misalign the embellishments, but because Mendelssohn’s version was sung a fourth

higher than the original, the harmonic structure of the piece is also changed, resulting in a leap from

an F sharp in the bass up to a C (a diminished fifth which would never have been penned by

Allegri), followed by an abrupt modulation to c minor. Finally, the top soprano voice soars off to

the famous “Top C”, which, while an error, has been singularly instrumental in securing the

popularity of the piece today.

It is somewhat surprising that so glaring a series of errors could have been overlooked in the

editing process for Grove’s dictionary, but, rather than being weeded out, the error was compounded

by Ivor Atkins’ 1951 edition of the piece, which lifted the Choir I part from Burney’s publication,

and the Choir II from the erroneous example in Grove. Later editions continue to use this

mismatched version, even in the knowledge that the piece has now moved very far from its origins.

Perhaps the best justification for this is given by Byram-Wigfield:

“The result is strangely beautiful, and probably here to stay. It is, after all, one of the most popular pieces of sacred music. However, it is neither a representation of the performance practice of the Sistine Chapel choir, nor a true reflection of how the piece was ever sung there.”14

14 Byram-Wigfield, A Quest for the Holy Grail, 13

Works cited

“Allegri’s “Miserere”, The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, 26 no. 510 (Aug 1885), 455-6

Anderson, Emily ed. The Letters of Mozart & his Family (London: Macmillian, 1938), 1:187

Boursy, Richard “The Mystique of the Sistine Chapel Choir in the Romantic Era”, The Journal of Musicology, 11 no. 3 (Summer, 1993): 277-329

Burney, Charles. The present state of music in France and Italy (London: Becket & Co, 1773). Google e-book.

Byram-Wigfield, Ben. “A Quest for the Holy Grail?”, Ancient Groove Music, http://ancientgroove.co.uk/essays/AllegriBook.pdf (accessed Oct 10, 2011)

___ “An Unknown Quantity”, The Musical Times, 138 no. 1854 (Aug 1997): 12-21

Fabre-Garrus, Bernard, dir. Allegri: Miserere A Sei Voci. naïve/Astrée E8909. 1994.

Lionnet, Jean “Performance practice in the Papal Chapel during the 17th Century”, Early Music, 15 no. 1 (Feb., 1987), 3-15

Parrott, Andrew, dir. Pachelbel’s Canon & Other Baroque Favourites. Taverner Consort Choir. EMI Classics 0724348204325. 2005.

Stendhal, Life of Mozart, in Lives of Haydn, Mozart and Metastasio, tr., intr., and ed. by Richard N. Coe (London: Calder & Boyars, 1972).