Vatican 1600 (Allegri's Miserere performed by the Tallis Scholars)

This recording of Gregorio Allegri's glorious Miserere is perhaps the purest, most definitive sound ever achieved by a professional choir. It was performed by the Tallis Scholars under the direction of Peter Phillips and recorded by Gimell Records in the early 1980s.

The photos I took inside St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in 1997 without filters or flash. It was a little dark that day and the lighting wasn't so good so the pictures are a bit grainy.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Tallis
• Scholars
• Peter
• Phillips
• Gregorio
• Allegri
• Miserere
• Renaissance

[Dish951]

ma che coro e???? wich is the coir?

[earliermusic]

@Dish951

The Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips

They are British

[cyung01]

Obviously Tallis Scholars has made different versions of Miserere mei Deus during the years. I've a different recording which is not as good as this. Can you tell me which record is this from ? Appreciate that.

[earliermusic]

@cyung01

The recording is one of the earliest Tallis Scholars recordings (pre-digital) that was re-released in 2001 under the Gimell UK label. You can get it on Amazon.com.

Good luck!

[earliermusic]

The legend that I recall is that the church never published the piece for the public to use and that Mozart transcribed it from a single listening of the entire work.

[edmundnschrag]

The pictures are fitting. Though with our eyes we see as through a glass, you have allowed us through our ears to see Him face-to-Face, and for that I am grateful.

[micontrafa]

@earliermusic You're correct. The Vatican had this locked up and wouldn't release it. However, to say "Mozart transcribed it from a single hearing" is misleading. The piece repeats itself several times before it ends with a 8 or 12-bar coda. The text is just Psalm 51, which was published all over. So it's impressive, but not miraculous.

[johnm28med]

The Miserere is written about in many many diaries through the ages. People travelled to Rome throughout the 1700s and 1800s to specifically here this piece sung at Vatican. I believe it was (and still is) usually sung during the Tenenbrae service on Holy Saturday and the candle light is slow extinguished.

[silmanzoni]

@Dish951 Sono i Tallis Scholars diretti da Peter Phillips

[falstocat]

@Catlin11 Is that Berg?

[falstocat]

@earliermusic Intellectual properties be damned! I love Mozart.

[kirinphoebe1]

@ozvoxhumana That was quite an accomplishment by young Mozart, but ultimately not as difficult as you might think. The verses are repeated so often and the harmonies are so consonant, and the polyphony is such a short part of the entire piece, that there are others who could do the same. In fact, there *were* others who did so.

[yugandali]

I was shocked the first time I heard this: can this be human?

I listened to the CD hundreds of times, and was overjoyed when the Tallis Scholars came to Taipei and sang this.

Thank you for posting!

[SuperRothers]

tESSA bONNER IS CRYSTAL CLEAR, SUCH BEAUTY

[rjf3tj]

@walafay No...just no....why would you want to mess with perfection?

[Masterpencer]

@earliermusic And he was 14 at that time :-)