The Music Plays On — Allegri’s Miserere

Not only does Allegri’s Miserere have one of the most unique stories in all music, it is one of the most beautiful and haunting pieces ever composed and is deserving of its four centuries of popularity.

The Italian composer Gregorio Allegri composed his Miserere in most likely the 1630’s during the reign of Pope Urban VIII. I say ‘his’ because the text of the Miserere mei Deus (its full title) has been set by many composers from long before Allegri to the present day. The Miserere of Arvo Pärt

and James MacMillan

are two powerful and important 20th century settings of this text. In fact, Allegri’s is the last of twelve settings that were composed solely to be sung in the Sistine Chapel. It became forbidden to even transcribe these misereres onto paper, making the annual Holy Week performances by the…