Miserere (Allegri)
SETTING OF PSALM 51 BY GREGORIO ALLEGRI
Allegri's Miserere; Miserere mei, deus; Allegri Miserere; Miserere mei (Allegri)
Miserere (full title: Miserere mei, Deus, Latin for "Have mercy on me, O God") is a setting of Psalm 51 (Psalm 50 in Septuagint numbering) by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri. It was composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably during the 1630s, for the exclusive use of the Sistine Chapel during the Tenebrae services of Holy Week, and its mystique was increased by unwritten performance traditions and ornamentation.