AES202 Miserere Mei, Deus

So I was just searching for new songs to test out my new earphones, and I came across a very beautiful choir song, and it apparently has a very interesting story behind it as well. “Miserere Mei, Deus” (Have Mercy On Me, o God) is a song composed by Gregorio Allegri in the early 1600’s for the exclusive use of the Catholic Church. For over a hundred years, this song was played only on special occasions, and only within the walls of the Sistine Chapel inside the Vatican. This song was the pride of the Church, for it was considered one of the most otherworldly beautiful compositions ever created. To preserve the almost transcendent beauty and mystery surrounding this song, the Church forbade anyone else from playing or transcribing this song in any way. So for 150 years, the only way you could hear this choral arrangement is inside the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. 

And then came along someone named Mozart, yes, that Mozart. In 1770 this little 14 year-old child prodigy came to visit the Vatican with his father, and he happened to hear “Miserere” being performed during a service, he was transfixed by the song. When he arrived back home, the 14 year-old Mozart sat down and transcribed the entire composition from memory, the whole 14 minutes, 9 vocal choral part songs from just one hearing. And so the Vatican’s exclusive composition was no longer exclusive to the Vatican alone. When the Pope found out that it was Mozart that leaked the song, he didn’t punish the boy, instead the Pope was very impressed at Mozart’s musical genius, and praised him for this incredible feat.

I’ll link my favorite rendition of “Miserere Mei, Deus” here. I recommend using good headphones while listening to this because it really adds a lot to the experience. That one super high C note is infamously difficult to pull off, a challenge to trebles everywhere… but sounds heavenly if properly done, enjoy!