Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  

































Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Life  





2 The Miserere  





3 References  





4 External links  














Gregorio Allegri: Difference between revisions






Afrikaans
Български
Català
Čeština
Dansk
Deutsch
Eesti
Ελληνικά
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Français

Հայերեն
Bahasa Indonesia
Italiano
עברית
Latina
Lietuvių
Magyar
Malti
مصرى
Nederlands

Norsk bokmål
Norsk nynorsk
Polski
Português
Русский
Simple English
Српски / srpski
Suomi
Svenska
Türkçe
Українська

 

Edit links
 









Article
Talk
 

















Read
Edit
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
Edit
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 




Print/export  







In other projects  



Wikimedia Commons
 
















Appearance
   

 





Help
 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


Browse history interactively
 Previous editNext edit 
Content deleted Content added
m Disambiguating links to Vatican (link changed to Vatican City) using DisamAssist.
→‎The Miserere: cite with 2 sources
(3 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 20: Line 20:

By far the best-known and regarded piece of music composed by Allegri is the ''[[Miserere (Allegri)|Miserere mei, Deus]]'', a setting of Vulgate Psalm 50 (= [[Psalm 51]]). It is written for two [[choir]]s, the one of five and the other of four voices, and has obtained considerable celebrity. One of the choirs sings a simple ''[[fauxbourdon]]'' based on the original [[plainsong]] chant for the ''[[Tonus peregrinus]]''; the other choir sings a similar ''fauxbourdon'' with pre-existing elaborations and the use of cadenzas. The ''Miserere'' has for many years been sung annually during [[Holy Week]] in the [[Sistine Chapel]] in the [[Vatican City|Vatican]]. Many have cited this work as an example of the ''[[Prima pratica|stile antico]]'' (old style) or ''[[prima pratica]]'' (first practice). However, its emphasis on [[polychoral]] techniques certainly put it out of the range of ''prima pratica.'' A more accurate comparison would be to the works of [[Giovanni Gabrieli]].

By far the best-known and regarded piece of music composed by Allegri is the ''[[Miserere (Allegri)|Miserere mei, Deus]]'', a setting of Vulgate Psalm 50 (= [[Psalm 51]]). It is written for two [[choir]]s, the one of five and the other of four voices, and has obtained considerable celebrity. One of the choirs sings a simple ''[[fauxbourdon]]'' based on the original [[plainsong]] chant for the ''[[Tonus peregrinus]]''; the other choir sings a similar ''fauxbourdon'' with pre-existing elaborations and the use of cadenzas. The ''Miserere'' has for many years been sung annually during [[Holy Week]] in the [[Sistine Chapel]] in the [[Vatican City|Vatican]]. Many have cited this work as an example of the ''[[Prima pratica|stile antico]]'' (old style) or ''[[prima pratica]]'' (first practice). However, its emphasis on [[polychoral]] techniques certainly put it out of the range of ''prima pratica.'' A more accurate comparison would be to the works of [[Giovanni Gabrieli]].



The ''Miserere'' is one of the most often-recorded examples of late Renaissance music, although it was actually written during the chronological confines of the [[Baroque music|Baroque]] era; in this regard it is representative of the music of the Roman School of composers, who were stylistically conservative. The work acquired a considerable reputation for mystery and inaccessibility between the time of its composition and the era of modern recording; the Vatican, wanting to preserve its aura of mystery, forbade copies, threatening any publication or attempted copy with excommunication.{{Citation needed|reason=Several copies of the sheet music existed, and the music had been performed outsideofRome.|date=June 2023}} They were not prepared, however, for a special visit in 1770 from a 14-year-old named [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], who, on a trip to Rome with his father, heard it but twice and transcribed it faithfully from memory, thus creating the first known unauthorised copy. However, there is evidence that copies of the work that pre-date Mozart's visit to Rome in 1770 had already been circulating in Europe, and Mozart may have heard the piece performed in London in 1764 or 1765 as well.<ref>For new information on this episode, see Ilias Chrissochoidis, [https://www.academia.edu/249273/ "London Mozartiana: Wolfgang's disputed age & early performances of Allegri's ''Miserere''"], ''The Musical Times'', vol. 151, no. 1911 (Summer 2010), 83–89.</ref>

The ''Miserere'' is one of the most often-recorded examples of late Renaissance music, although it was actually written during the chronological confines of the [[Baroque music|Baroque]] era; in this regard it is representative of the music of the Roman School of composers, who were stylistically conservative. The work acquired a considerable reputation for mystery and inaccessibility between the time of its composition and the era of modern recording; the Vatican, wanting to preserve its aura of mystery, forbade copies, threatening any publication or attempted copy with excommunication.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rose |first=Terez |date=2017-09-30 |title=The Day Mozart Stole Music From the Vatican |url=https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2017/09/allegri-miserere-mozart-vatican-terez-rose.html |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=The Imaginative Conservative |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Newton-Rex |first=Ed |date=2019-11-29 |title=The storyofAllegri’s Miserere |url=https://medium.com/world-of-music/the-story-of-allegris-miserere-b4d21656798 |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=Re / verb |language=en}}</ref> They were not prepared, however, for a special visit in 1770 from a 14-year-old named [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], who, on a trip to Rome with his father, heard it but twice and transcribed it faithfully from memory, thus creating the first known unauthorised copy. However, there is evidence that copies of the work that pre-date Mozart's visit to Rome in 1770 had already been circulating in Europe, and Mozart may have heard the piece performed in London in 1764 or 1765 as well.<ref>For new information on this episode, see Ilias Chrissochoidis, [https://www.academia.edu/249273/ "London Mozartiana: Wolfgang's disputed age & early performances of Allegri's ''Miserere''"], ''The Musical Times'', vol. 151, no. 1911 (Summer 2010), 83–89.</ref>



In 1771 Mozart's copy was procured and published in England by the famous traveller and music historian [[Charles Burney|Dr Charles Burney]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} However, Burney's edition does not show the ornamentation for which the work was famous.

In 1771 Mozart's copy was procured and published in England by the famous traveller and music historian [[Charles Burney|Dr Charles Burney]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} However, Burney's edition does not show the ornamentation for which the work was famous.

Line 44: Line 44:


{{DEFAULTSORT:Allegri, Gregorio}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allegri, Gregorio}}

[[Category:Classical composers of church music]]

[[Category:Italian classical composers of church music]]

[[Category:Italian male classical composers]]

[[Category:Italian male classical composers]]

[[Category:Italian Baroque composers]]

[[Category:Italian Baroque composers]]

Line 51: Line 51:

[[Category:Pupils of Giovanni Maria Nanino]]

[[Category:Pupils of Giovanni Maria Nanino]]

[[Category:Roman school composers]]

[[Category:Roman school composers]]

[[Category:Renaissance composers]]

[[Category:Italian Renaissance composers]]

[[Category:Composers from Rome]]

[[Category:Composers from Rome]]

[[Category:1582 births]]

[[Category:1582 births]]

[[Category:1652 deaths]]

[[Category:1652 deaths]]

[[Category:17th-century male musicians]]

[[Category:17th-century Italian male musicians]]


Revision as of 16:03, 14 June 2024

Gregorio Allegri

Gregorio Allegri (c. 1582 – 17 February 1652)[1][2] was a Catholic priest and Italian composer of the Roman School and brother of Domenico Allegri; he was also a singer. He was born[3] and died in Rome. He is chiefly known for his Miserere for two choirs.

Life

He studied music as a puer (boy chorister) at San Luigi dei Francesi, under the maestro di cappella Giovanni Bernardino Nanino, brother of Giovanni Maria Nanino. Being intended for the Church, he obtained a benefice in the cathedral of Fermo. Here he composed a large number of motets and other sacred music, which, being brought to the notice of Pope Urban VIII, obtained for him an appointment in the choir of the Sistine Chapel at Rome as a contralto. He held this from 6 December 1629 until his death. Allegri is said to have been a virtuous man, as well as good-natured and generous to the poor and to prisoners.[4][5]

Among Allegri's musical compositions were two volumes of concerti for five voices published in 1618 and 1619; two volumes of motets for six voices published in 1621; an edition of a four-part sinfonia; five masses; two settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah; and numerous motets which were not published in his lifetime. He was one of the earliest composers for stringed instruments, and Athanasius Kircher has given one specimen of this class of his works in his Musurgia Universalis.[4] Most of Allegri's published music, especially the instrumental music, is in the progressive early Baroque concertato style. However, his work for the Sistine Chapel is descended from the Palestrina style, and in some cases strips even this refined, simple style of almost all localised ornamentation. He is credited with the earliest string quartet.[6]

The Miserere

By far the best-known and regarded piece of music composed by Allegri is the Miserere mei, Deus, a setting of Vulgate Psalm 50 (= Psalm 51). It is written for two choirs, the one of five and the other of four voices, and has obtained considerable celebrity. One of the choirs sings a simple fauxbourdon based on the original plainsong chant for the Tonus peregrinus; the other choir sings a similar fauxbourdon with pre-existing elaborations and the use of cadenzas. The Miserere has for many years been sung annually during Holy Week in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Many have cited this work as an example of the stile antico (old style) or prima pratica (first practice). However, its emphasis on polychoral techniques certainly put it out of the range of prima pratica. A more accurate comparison would be to the works of Giovanni Gabrieli.

The Miserere is one of the most often-recorded examples of late Renaissance music, although it was actually written during the chronological confines of the Baroque era; in this regard it is representative of the music of the Roman School of composers, who were stylistically conservative. The work acquired a considerable reputation for mystery and inaccessibility between the time of its composition and the era of modern recording; the Vatican, wanting to preserve its aura of mystery, forbade copies, threatening any publication or attempted copy with excommunication.[7][8] They were not prepared, however, for a special visit in 1770 from a 14-year-old named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who, on a trip to Rome with his father, heard it but twice and transcribed it faithfully from memory, thus creating the first known unauthorised copy. However, there is evidence that copies of the work that pre-date Mozart's visit to Rome in 1770 had already been circulating in Europe, and Mozart may have heard the piece performed in London in 1764 or 1765 as well.[9]

In 1771 Mozart's copy was procured and published in England by the famous traveller and music historian Dr Charles Burney.[10] However, Burney's edition does not show the ornamentation for which the work was famous.

The music as it is performed today includes a strange error by a copyist in the 1880s. The curious "trucker's gear change" from G minor to C minor is because the second half of the verse is the same as the first half, but transposed up a fourth. The original never had a Top C.[11]

The entire music performed at Rome in Holy Week, Allegri's Miserere included, has been issued at LeipzigbyBreitkopf and Härtel. Interesting accounts of the impression produced by the performance at Rome may be found in the first volume of Felix Mendelssohn's letters and in Miss Taylor's Letters from Italy.[4]

References

  1. ^ Gregorio Allegri classical.net, 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  • ^ Most contemporary sources give these dates; Chisholm (1911) gives year of birth as "either in 1560 or 1585" and death as 18 February 1652.
  • ^ "Allegri, Gregorio" in Chambers's Encyclopædia. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 271.
  • ^ a b c  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Allegri, Gregorio". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 690.
  • ^ "In addition to his virtue, he had singularly good nature. He gave generous alms to the poor, who were always on his doorstep, as well as to prisoners, whom he visited daily, as I was assured by one of his pupils, a man worthy of belief, who is still alive." (Era anco aggiunta alla sua virtù una singolar bontà di costumi. Tanto a i poveri, che aveva sempre alla sua porta di Casa, quanto a i carcerati, che quotidianamente visitava, faceva larghe limosine, come mi ha attestato un suo scolare ancor vivente Uomo degno d'ogni credito), Andrea Adami, Osservazioni per ben regolare il coro della cappella pontificia, Antonio de' Rossi, Roma, 1711, pp. 199–200.
  • ^ Hull, A. Eaglefield; Allegri, Gregorio (1929). "The Earliest Known String-Quartet". The Musical Quarterly. 15 (1): 72–XI. doi:10.1093/mq/XV.1.72. ISSN 0027-4631. JSTOR 738307.
  • ^ Rose, Terez (2017-09-30). "The Day Mozart Stole Music From the Vatican". The Imaginative Conservative. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
  • ^ Newton-Rex, Ed (2019-11-29). "The story of Allegri's Miserere". Re / verb. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
  • ^ For new information on this episode, see Ilias Chrissochoidis, "London Mozartiana: Wolfgang's disputed age & early performances of Allegri's Miserere", The Musical Times, vol. 151, no. 1911 (Summer 2010), 83–89.
  • ^ Chisholm 1911.
  • ^ ed. Rutter, J. European Sacred Music. OUP 1996
  • External links


    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gregorio_Allegri&oldid=1229053433"

    Categories: 
    Italian classical composers of church music
    Italian male classical composers
    Italian Baroque composers
    17th-century Italian composers
    17th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests
    Pupils of Giovanni Maria Nanino
    Roman school composers
    Italian Renaissance composers
    Composers from Rome
    1582 births
    1652 deaths
    17th-century Italian male musicians
    Hidden categories: 
    Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference
    Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
    Articles with short description
    Short description matches Wikidata
    Articles needing additional references from September 2013
    All articles needing additional references
    Articles with hAudio microformats
    Composers with IMSLP links
    Articles with International Music Score Library Project links
    Articles with FAST identifiers
    Articles with ISNI identifiers
    Articles with VIAF identifiers
    Articles with WorldCat Entities identifiers
    Articles with BIBSYS identifiers
    Articles with BNE identifiers
    Articles with BNF identifiers
    Articles with BNFdata identifiers
    Articles with GND identifiers
    Articles with ICCU identifiers
    Articles with J9U identifiers
    Articles with KANTO identifiers
    Articles with KBR identifiers
    Articles with LCCN identifiers
    Articles with LNB identifiers
    Articles with NDL identifiers
    Articles with NKC identifiers
    Articles with NLA identifiers
    Articles with NLK identifiers
    Articles with NTA identifiers
    Articles with PLWABN identifiers
    Articles with PortugalA identifiers
    Articles with VcBA identifiers
    Articles with CINII identifiers
    Articles with MusicBrainz identifiers
    Articles with BMLO identifiers
    Articles with DBI identifiers
    Articles with DTBIO identifiers
    Articles with Trove identifiers
    Articles with RISM identifiers
    Articles with SNAC-ID identifiers
    Articles with SUDOC identifiers
     



    This page was last edited on 14 June 2024, at 16:03 (UTC).

    This version of the page has been revised. Besides normal editing, the reason for revision may have been that this version contains factual inaccuracies, vandalism, or material not compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.



    Privacy policy

    About Wikipedia

    Disclaimers

    Contact Wikipedia

    Code of Conduct

    Developers

    Statistics

    Cookie statement

    Mobile view



    Wikimedia Foundation
    Powered by MediaWiki