My first time hearing it! I was so lost in the fullness of the sound, that it didn't even occur to me there were no musical intruments until I read your comment! ❤️✌🏻❤️
This is wonderful and close to unbelievable, but listen to the equivalent in Eastern orthodox Christianity of Piotr Ilyich Tsaikhovsky hymn of the cherubim. If you are crazy about miserere mei YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE YOUR EARS!!!!! TSAIKHOVSKY CREATED THE HYMN OF THE UNIVERSE!!!!!!
@@giannistsoukatos4205 lol keep dreaming Orthobro you're just mad a Catholic wrote this. Allegri's Miserere is lightyears ahead of Tchaikovsky's Hymn of the Cherubim.
I went to high school in Germany, army brat. My humanities teacher took us to a small, stone church built in the 13th century to hear Christmas service. The entire service was in Latin and it included the choir singing this. Standing there in that church listening to this I had a feeling I haven’t had before or since. I felt a part of something so large and yet personally so insignificant at the same time.
This is a beautiful song. I too, just came this piece earlier in the night. I got the same EXACT feeling and emotions he had whilst listening to this. 💓
There's a cool story behind this music. Allegri was a member of the Sistene Chapel choir in Rome, and he wrote this music to be sung during Holy Week at the Vatican. When people heard it, they were stunned, it was the most beautiful, mysterious music they'd ever heard. The Pope at the time felt that the Vatican was the only place sacred enough in the world to hear the beauty of it. It was decreed that it could only be performed in the Vatican, during Holy Week. Nobody was allowed to copy it, no one was allowed to perform it anywhere else. Anyone caught breaking this rule would recieve a pretty hefty punishment: they'd be excommunicated from the church. Yikes. Music so amazing that if you try to steal it, you're going to hell!😯 So for generations, unless you travelled to Rome, went to the Vatican, during Holy Week, to the right place at the right time, you were never going to hear that music. It gained this mysterious, exclusive reputation. Who would dare break such a serious rule and risk eternal punishment? In 1770, we got the answer. Young, brilliant, precocious, 14-year old Mozart. That year he travelled with his parents to Rome for Holy Week to celebrate. This would be his chance to hear this mysterious piece of music. They went into the chapel to hear it. As you can imagine it blew young Mozart's mind. However he was clearly not interested in abiding by anyone's rules. They went back to their accommodations, and he sat there and wrote the whole thing down, all the complicated harmonies, from memory, after hearing it once. He went back on Friday to listen to it one more time, just to make sure he got it right. He thought everyone should be able to hear music that beautiful. It shouldn't be locked up. It should be shared. Eventually it got out about what he'd done. A lot of time had passed since the Miserere was written. Perhaps the Pope and the clergy in charge in the 1770's were not quite as strict and compassionless. When the word got back to the Vatican, rather than gathering up their excommunication supplies😆, they were so damn impressed that this 14-year old kid had the audacity and genius to go in there and memorize the whole thing in one sitting. Not only was he he not punished, he was commended. Like, "Good on you, you little smarty pants!" I mean, c'mon, who's going to have the guts to throw a charming, child-prodigy, musical genius, little Mozart into hell for all eternity? And that's why we're all allowed to listen to this music today. Thanks, Wolfgang!❤❤😁😁
Holly Odell PRAYER OF KING DAVID ASKING FOR MERCY WHEN HE COMMITTED SIN AGAINST BATHSEBA WHOSE HUSBAND HE HAD MURDERED???? OF COURSE THE MAIN THING IS THAT HE COMMITTED THIS SINS AGAINST GOD.
I looked up the English translation. Based on Psalm 51 Have mercy on me, God According to your great kindness And according to the multitude of your mercies, Erase my iniquities Wash me completely from my iniquities And cleanse me of my sins For I know my iniquities And my sins are always before me To you alone, I have sinned And done evil before you That you may be fair in your speech And justified in your judgement Behold, I was conceived in iniquity And in sin did my mother conceived me Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts And you teach me wisdom in the hidden places Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow Let me hear your joy and gladness And my humble bones will rejoice Turn your face away from my sins And erase all of my iniquities Create in me a pure heart, oh, God, And renew your right spirit within me Do not turn me away from your sight, And do not take your Holy Spirit from me Return your gladness and salvation to me And uphold me with a willing spirit I will teach sinners your way And they will be converted unto you Save me from blood, God, God of my salvation My tongue will praise of your righteousness Lord, open my lips And my mouth will sing your glory Because you have not desired sacrifices For you don't delight in sacrifices, or I would do so Nor do you desire burnt offerings The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit A broken and humble heart God will not despise Do well before the Lord in your good pleasure to Zion And build the walls of Jerusalem Then you accept the sacrifices of righteousness In oblations and burnt offerings Then they will offer bulls on your altar. lyricstranslate.com
It shows your high intelligence that you are willing to go out of your comfort zone to listen to this. I grew up with this since my parents played this on Sundays and they made us sit down and shut up to listen to this. I learned to like it a lot more later in life. Listen to Faure too, you will be blown away. It is like you are in heaven.
I loved watching your reactions and hearing your words. I was a boy chorister in England and this glorious work was sung every Ash Wednesday at the Imposition of the Ashes. It never fails to move me to tears. In later life I now sing the alto or bass line, and have often sung in the quartet. The high voice in the quartet is a boy treble/soprano.
Thank you for sharing your enjoyment of this beautiful piece. Listening to this kind of sacred music can be prayer in itself. I grew up with this choral genre, it was everyday listening and singing for me in school, though my family were not religious at all. As a child I had no idea this music was complex, was not cool, was not relevant to pop culture, was allegedly ‘elitist’.....etc. I just felt and instinctively knew deep down that I loved it very much. I didn’t identify with it (like when you’re listening to pop songs as a teenager), but the opposite - when I listened to and sang this music, ‘I’ disappeared and it was liberating. I’m so grateful that I had teachers who could share this music with me and my friends and give us the skills to sing it together. That was the public school system back in the day, before it was deemed that music like this was inappropriate for young people and therefore, only accessible in private schools who didn’t have to tow the progressive line. So much Beauty is deliberately withheld from the souls of young students by The System. Bless you for sharing your love of it and for all those who are finding ways to enable others to enjoy it too. As others on this thread have commented, there’s no substitute for hearing this sung live in the wonderful acoustic of a beautiful church or cathedral. That goes for all the unaccompanied sacred choral genre which is written specifically with those resonant acoustics in mind.
I'm an older woman who wandered far from music I used to love, for reasons that don't make much sense. Thank you for somehow allowing me to find it again and experience it as if for the first time. You have a gift, and you've given me a wonderful gift.
I absolutely love your reactions to all the different styles of music you listen to. What you are showing is what music is for, reaching into the soul. Please continue searching for more it brings a smile to my face and a glow in my heart, thank you.
I was lucky enough to sing this song when I was in a boys choir. The miracle of it always was, it seemed to me, that every time the boy soprano sang that solo phrase, it felt like it was higher than the last time, even though they were the same notes.
James. I just came upon your show. Wonderful. I have sung classical choral music for many years. I have sung the Miserere many times and it is one of my favorites. Your show is opening up a genre of music that some people did not know existed. You are truly blessed.
This is a wonderful piece. So pleased you liked it. There is music for all times, hyping up, dancing, chilling or just letting your mind roam free. It's great that you can appreciate many different formats.
Omg, you listened to this???? I cant check out your reaction right now as I'm in a restaurant, but I'm going to as soon as I can. That is an amazing, unearthly piece of music. It's so pure and perfect, it takes you out of the regular world and brings you up into the sky. Once in awhile I need to go outside, sit back, put headphones on, close my eyes and listen to this. It's important to remember there are beautiful, awe inspiring things in the world, especially if you're going through difficult stuff.
Just finished watching your reaction. It was fantastic. Miserere is an amazing piece of music which gives us a glimpse into the eternity of creation. Heaven and angels worshipping. Do make sure you listen to live renditions too- there is a deep well to drink from with this piece (: And you can really see that Jesus lives in you - not just in this video. It is honestly refreshing to come across a man with true childlike wisdom and humility, as the Lord exhorted us to be like. God bless you.
Commenting on one of your older reactions, but, this music - and, your reaction to it - deserve their own reactions. I've heard this amazing piece of music for 60+ years, and just as with the very first time, when the boy-soprano's voice soars up over everyone else, I have tears in my eyes. My late partner and I both shared a love of the sublime sounds of a boychoir, and we were lucky enough to attend a performance by the New College Choir...while they did not sing this, it was well-worth the price of the tickets and 2 1/2 hour drive....this reaction was worth it, as well!
...even more beautiful when you understand what they're singing/chanting; King David's admission of guilt and plea for forgiveness from God after sinning with Bathsheba and murdering her husband.
I used to sing professionally for a Catholic Church, this was an Easter standard. Miserere Mei is Latin for have mercy on me. Of course the entire thing is much more, very long prayer set to this gorgeous music.
Psalm 51. It is so beautiful. Oddly enough, originally it did not have top C as the highest note, but top G. It was a quirk of it being rewritten by I think Mendelsohn 100 years after Mozart wrote it down where it shifted from a G Minor key to C minor key.
You think you were blown away by the recording, but to hear this in a Cathedral, or even a large church, with the incense wafting around and the perfect acoustics ... that is a major wow!
I love how much you love this!! I hadn't heard this before, so thank you for playing it. University college choirs are awesome for devotional music. Kings College Cambridge choir is great too.
Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness According to the multitude of Thy mercies do away mine offences. Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my faults: and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified in Thy saying, and clear when Thou art judged. Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me. But lo, Thou requirest truth in the inward parts: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly. Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness: that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Turn Thy face from my sins: and put out all my misdeeds. Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. O give me the comfort of Thy help again: and stablish me with Thy free Spirit. Then shall I teach Thy ways unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou that art the God of my health: and my tongue shall sing of Thy righteousness. Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall shew [show] Thy praise. For Thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it Thee: but Thou delightest not in burnt-offerings. The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise. O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young bullocks upon Thine altar.
I'm so glad you listened to this!!! I had it on my ipod since I was in jr. High and people always thought I was crazy for having it but it's so beautiful. It's about asking for mercy and forgiveness and includes the highest note for choral voices ever written. I always get chills!!!
all I can say is.. DUDE!!!! I just ran across this song earlier. Have been researching this song ever since. Name of the song is, "Miserere". I Think of it as, Misery. And... When I was WATCHING you reaction to this video..... Dude... I GOT THOSE SAME EXACT "" FEELINGS " you did. I know.. And I KNEW exactly, in that moment the feeling you was getting. I felt like I was being lifted into heaven, with the Voices of the Angels singing. So many feelings in this AMAZING song. WOW!! That's all
"Mercy", not "misery". It's Latin for "Have mercy on me, God" (the first line from Psalm 51). This was composed to be sung during a Roman Catholic Mass.
“Music gives soul to the universe and wings to the mind” Plato said that “music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything”.
This my same reaction when I first listened a month or so ago brother! A professor of mine randomly recommended it, (not a music class) and he claimed the piece invoked an out of body experience. When I listen to the song alone and close my eyes the hairs on my arms stand up... it is truly beautiful and I cannot accurately describe the feelings it provokes.
Allegri's masterpiece was written sometime before 1638 for the annual celebration of the matins during Holy Week (the Easter celebration). Twice during that week, on Wednesday and Friday, the service would start at 3AM when 27 candles were extinguished one at a time until but one remained burning. According to reports, the pope would participate in these services. Allegri composed his setting of the Miserere for the very end of the first lesson of these Tenebrae services. At the final candle, the pope would kneel before the altar and pray while the Miserere was sung, culminating the service. The idea of using a solemn setting of the "Miserere mei Deus" psalm likely started during the reign of Pope Leo X (1513-1521). Contemporaneous accounts relate the use of the Miserere in this way in the year 1514. The earliest surviving setting is dated 1518 and was composed by Costanzo Festa (c. 1490- 1545). Festa's Miserere was sung in the "falsobordone" style, which is an ancient and rather simple means of harmonizing on traditional Gregorian chant. His setting consisted of nine vocal parts split into two choirs, the first a five-part and the second a four-part, each alternating with the traditional Gregorian plainsong melodies, and then coming back together again for the last verse. Festa's setting was the first of twelve such settings collected in a two-volume manuscript preserved in the Pontifical Chapel archives. Ten more contributors, including Guerrero and Palestrina, are represented in these volumes before the final manuscript of Allegri's celebrated work, following exactly the same ensemble layout as Festa's original work and is likewise in the falsobordone style, closes the collection of twelve. It was not long before Allegri's Miserere was the only such work sung at these services. With its soaring soprano parts (sung for centuries by castrati) and compelling melodic style, the work enjoyed almost immediate popularity. So impressed was some subsequent pope that the work thereafter was protected and a prohibition was placed on its use outside the Sistine Chapel at the appointed time. Chapel regulations forbid its transcription; indeed, the prohibition called for excommunication for anyone who sought to copy the work. In spite of this, by 1770 three copies were known to exist. One was owned by the King of Portugal; another was in the possession of the distinguished composer, pedagogue, and theoretician Padre Giovanni Battista Martini (1706-1784); and a third was kept in the Imperial Library in Vienna. It is here that the first tale contributes to the mystique that has come to surround this work. The copy in the Imperial Library was brought to Vienna by Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705), who, having heard of the piece from dignitaries visiting Rome, instructed his ambassador to the Vatican to ask the Pope for a copy of the work for performance in the royal chapel. The Pope eventually obliged, but when the work was performed in Vienna, it was so disappointing that the Emperor believed he had been deceived, and a lesser work sent to him instead. He complained to the Pope, who fired his Maestro di Cappella. The unfortunate man pleaded for a papal audience, explaining that the beauty of the work owed to the special performance technique used by the papal choir, which could not be set down on paper. The Pope, understand nothing of music, granted the man permission to go to Vienna and make his case, which he did successfully, and was rehired. In fact, it is this elaborate performance technique, including improvised counterpoint, first employed soon after the work was written, that has been approximated in a recent recording by A Sei Voci on Astree. The next famous story concerning the Miserere involves the 12-year-old Mozart. On December 13, 1769, Leopold and Wolfgang left Salzburg and set out for a 15-month tour of Italy where, among other things, Leopold hoped that Wolfgang would have the chance to study with Padre Martini in Bologna, who had also taught Johann Christian Bach several years before. On their circuitous route to Bologna, they passed through Innsbruck, Verona, Milan, and arrived in Rome on April 11, 1770, just in time for Easter. As with any tourist, they visited St. Peter's to celebrate the Wednesday Tenebrae and to hear the famous Miserere sung at the Sistine Chapel. Upon arriving at their lodging that evening, Mozart sat down and wrote out from memory the entire piece. On Good Friday, he returned, with his manuscript rolled up in his hat, to hear the piece again and make a few minor corrections. Leopold told of Wolfgang's accomplishment in a letter to his wife dated April 14, 1770 (Rome): "…You have often heard of the famous Miserere in Rome, which is so greatly prized that the performers are forbidden on pain of excommunication to take away a single part of it, copy it or to give it to anyone. But we have it already. Wolfgang has written it down and we would have sent it to Salzburg in this letter, if it were not necessary for us to be there to perform it. But the manner of performance contributes more to its effect than the composition itself. Moreover, as it is one of the secrets of Rome, we do not wish to let it fall into other hands…." Wolfgang and his father then traveled on to Naples for a short stay, returning to Rome a few weeks later to attend a papal audience where Wolfgang was made a Knight of the Golden Spur. They left Rome a couple of weeks later to spend the rest of the summer in Bologna, where Wolfgang studied with Padre Martini. The story does not end here, however. As the Mozarts were sightseeing and traveling back to Rome, the noted biographer and music historian, Dr. Charles Burney, set out from London on a tour of France and Italy to gather material for a book on the state of music in those countries. By August, he arrived in Bologna to meet with Padre Martini. There he also met Mozart. Though little is known about what transpired between Mozart and Burney at this meeting, some facts surrounding the incident lead to interesting conjecture. For one, Mozart's transcription of Allegri's Miserere, important in that it would presumably also reflect the improvised passages performed in 1770 and thus document the style of improvisation employed by the papal choir, has never been found. The second fact is that Burney, upon returning to England near the end of 1771, published an account of his tour as well as a collection of music for the celebration of Holy Week in the Sistine Chapel. This volume included music by Palestrina, Bai, and, for the first time, Allegri's famous Miserere. Subsequently, the Miserere was reprinted many times in England, Leipzig, Paris and Rome, effectively ending the pope's monopoly on the work. It is not known where Burney obtained his copy of the Miserere. It has been suggested that Maestro di Cappella Santarelli at the Vatican gave him a copy, which he checked against Padre Martini's manuscript when he visited Bologna. This is certainly possible, as is the alternative that he simply obtained a copy from Martini. However, both explanations seem unlikely given the papal strictures placed on copying the manuscript. Is it possible that Burney took Mozart's transcription, perhaps compared it to Martini's copy, and then published a cleaned-up version, minus the improvisations, and destroyed Mozart's manuscript to protect him as Catholic subject of the Holy Roman Empire? We may never know the whole story. Burney's "plain" version of the Miserere has enjoyed many fine performances, indeed it is one of the most recorded works of the sacred a cappella repertoire. Among these recordings, I have found the performance of The Sixteen, led by Harry Christophers (Collins Classics 50092, now Coro 16014), to be the most satisfying. The Sixteen have wonderful blend, but at times, in other recordings, their enunciation and diction have been less than ideal. This performance has no such problems. Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars have recorded this work twice, once nearly a decade ago (Gimell CDGIM339) and more recently a glorious live recording made at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Palestrina's death (Gimell CDGIM999). Their outstanding sopranos make the Tallis Scholars perfectly suited to this music. As mentioned previously, a recording by A Sei Voci includes a performance which attempts to recreate the improvisational style used by the papal choir in its heyday. This involves counterpoint super librum, interpolated and improvised upon by the singers, as was common in church choirs of the time. These ornaments lend a special beauty to this performance. The Miserere is sung twice on this disc (Astree E8524), the first being the ornamented version, followed by the Missa Vidi turbam magnum for six voices, three motets, and then the standard version of the Miserere closes out the disc. By combining this fascinating version of the Miserere with other works by Allegri, Astree has created a disc of extraordinary interest.
I love that you enjoyed it! Choral music is an art form in itself. At whatever level, it is as much about listening as singing. And the world could use a lot more of that right now.
We wouldn’t know about this musical masterpiece if it wasn’t the inspiration of W. A. Mozart who transcribed it from memory when he was visiting the Vatican and this was performed in the Sistine Chapel. Gregorio Allegri the composer was a catholic priest and composer who composed a setting of Psalm 51 and was installed as part of services of the Tenebrae of the Holy Week specifically used in the Sistine chapel. It was not allowed for the sheet music to be published to the public until a 14 year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart came along and transcribed the whole piece by memory in two sessions. So we owe Mozart a musical genius a lot for letting us to hear such beautiful choral pieces of the late Renaissance era.
when I hear this piece my soul soars and for a moment I feel I may have touched the essence of my creator, only to know I am not worthy of the sublime experience.
Good pick. I can see the angelic tendrils of grace and glory touch you as it is touching me. Simply beautiful. To sing without vibrato is not an easy task. Thank you so much.
@@sapereaude6339 No. I go to no church. I feel they have their on agenda! I read my Bible and I pray. I don't need anyone to tell how I should believe. Just sayin.......
@@philwragg9529 I am sorry if you mis understood. I was not judging!! I agree enjoy the music. If you believe or not is your own business,did not mean to step on your toes!
Wonderful reaction 🙂 I was hoping you'd do this piece... Its beyond words & one of my favourites... Keep up the good work, reacting to the hugh variety of humanity's creativity 🤘x
It's Latin for "have mercy on me God." Agnus Dei means Lamb of God. What you are listening to is Psalm 51 (50 in the Septuagint and Dewey Reams versions of the Bible) in Latin
This is the song I think we are gonna hear when angels are making way for God and he is holding the devils dead body up and saying, "now and forever, will there never be any more hatred, sorrow, pain, death. Let the light come in and the dark flea from us. Let us live eternally, in peace and harmony. Let new life grow from the death in the past."
I have always thought since I first heard this piece that my soul had been touched. I can see that it touched your soul too. Literally breath taking beauty sounds.
I really enjoy music reaction videos in general but experiencing this particular piece with other music lovers was especially amazing. Thanks for posting!
I've known this song for 2 hours before you. Found it as a suggestion in the comments under one of your other videos. I'm amazed as well. Thank you very much and Greetings from Germany.
English translation and original latin lyrics down below: Have mercy upon me, O God: after Thy great goodness. According to the multitude of Thy mercies, do away mine offences. Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my faults: and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified in Thy saying, and clear when Thou art judged. Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me. But lo, Thou requirest truth in the inward parts: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly. Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness: that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Turn Thy face from my sins: and put out all my misdeeds. Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. O give me the comfort of Thy help again: and stablish me with Thy free Spirit. Then shall I teach Thy ways unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou that art the God of my health: and my tongue shall sing of Thy righteousness. Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall shew [show] Thy praise. For Thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it Thee: but Thou delightest not in burnt-offerings. The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise. O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young bullocks upon Thine altar (The original translation of the psalm used for the piece was in Latin) Miserere mei, Deus: secundum magnam misericordiam tuam. Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam. Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: et a peccato meo munda me. Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco: et peccatum meum contra me est semper. Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci: ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum judicaris. Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum: et in peccatis concepit me mater mea. Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti: incerta et occulta sapientiae tuae manifestasti mihi. Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor: lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor. Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam: et exsultabunt ossa humiliata. Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis: et omnes iniquitates meas dele. Cor mundum crea in me, Deus: et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis. Ne proiicias me a facie tua: et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me. Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui: et spiritu principali confirma me. Docebo iniquos vias tuas: et impii ad te convertentur. Libera me de sanguinibus, Deus, Deus salutis meae: et exsultabit lingua mea justitiam tuam. Domine, labia mea aperies: et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam. Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem utique: holocaustis non delectaberis. Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus: cor contritum, et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies. Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion: ut aedificentur muri Ierusalem. Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae, oblationes, et holocausta: tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.
My all time favourite piece of classical music that is truly beautiful is Ralph Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending. Give it a listen, it will feed your soul just as this does.
I love this piece so much and polyphonic music in particular really tugs at my heart strings. There's something about music that just makes you feel like you are in the middle of a beautiful wash of sound. If you haven't already, check out Monteverdi and Palestrina masses or motets by Tallis which are also beautiful. I'd also recommend Beethoven Symphony no. 7, particularly the second movement and the Handel oratorios - The Messiah is the most famous one but I also love Israel in Egypt. For something more modern I love Gorecki's Symphony no. 3 (also known as the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs). The words are from various places but the text from the second music was written on the walls of a Gestapo cell by an 18 year old girl and it is one of the most haunting and beautiful pieces I've ever heard Thank you for letting us enjoy your reactions to this music and for being so open with your feelings. As a lifelong classical musician it truly makes my day to see young people discovering the wealth of absolutely incredible music that is available. Music is a universal language that everyone should enjoy no matter their taste and I look forward to many more videos from you!
@@eaalders628 People like you explain why our society is collapsing. Utter contempt for the traditional practices that built our western nations and not a care in the world for the stabilising role of religion in a 'civilisation' dominated by greed, lust and power.
I have no faith - except in the unlimited capacity and boundless ambitions of us all as one human kind. Thank you for sharing your first reaction to this piece of human perfection, was a pleasure to share that moment with you.
English translation This translation is from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and is used in Ivor Atkins' English edition of the Miserere (published by Novello): Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness According to the multitude of Thy mercies do away mine offences. Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my faults: and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified in Thy saying, and clear when Thou art judged. Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me. But lo, Thou requirest truth in the inward parts: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly. Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness: that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Turn Thy face from my sins: and put out all my misdeeds. Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. O give me the comfort of Thy help again: and stablish me with Thy free Spirit. Then shall I teach Thy ways unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou that art the God of my health: and my tongue shall sing of Thy righteousness. Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall shew [show] Thy praise. For Thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it Thee: but Thou delightest not in burnt-offerings. The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise. O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young bullocks upon Thine altar.
I am so pleased that a very modern and young guy like you is ok to listen to a sacred piece of music, sung in its original Latin language.... you are so right. The music is heavenly, really celestial. It reminds me that, whether we are believers or not, we all possess something strongly spiritual in all of us... a major part of our existence. kind thoughts to you.
Miserere is a setting of Psalm 51 (50) by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri. It was composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably during the 1630s
It's interesting to think that back then they were centuries away from electricity all the advancements in technology and medicine that we take for granted, so many things humans hadn't yet mastered. But they had people who could write music like this.
They aren't getting voice-altering hormones in their system as early as girls do. Which allows for more training. Also the untouched voice, so to say, is more prevalent in boys. On average of course.
When listening to classical Indian and Chinese music, I close my eyes and let myself be transported. It reminds me of the scene in The Shawshank Redemption when the fellow plays opera over the public address system...people are mesmerized. Thank you for you and your channel. 🧡
Your comments are so truthful - Someone asked Arthur Rubinstein (a famous classical musician in the 70-s) what he thought about "blues" and he said: " there are only sorts of music! Good music and poor music. I think you reaction supports this opinion. Great and thank you!
This was played at my mother's funeral service. It was played during entering and departing the service. We received many beautiful reactions. Thank you James. This makes me feel so warm and comforted.
Dear Jblethal, I appreciate your feelings. This was King David's prayer to his heavenly Father after his sin with Bathsheba, taken from Psalms chapter 51. It truly shows how deeply important his friendship with his God Jehovah really was. As he cried out in his agony, he demomstrated his repentance and he was forgiven. What a wonderful Creator we have! He's worth getting to know. Thank you, all the best!
Please post a reaction to Mahler’s Adagietto from his 5th symphony! Especially the interpretation conducted by Karajan! 💕 I love Allegri’s Miserere Mei Deus especially this specific recording! 💕
Every piece of classical music he listens to he says it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard. His life is growing exponentially along with his spirit with every new classical piece. When the one singer hits that high C you can actually see JB’s soul rejoice.
“Have mercy on me oh God”. An a cappella setting of Psalm 51 by an Italian Catholic priest named Gregorio Allegri who composed music in the 17th century. Too many people are unfamiliar with the great beauty of the sacred music of the Catholic Church. This music comes right from the mind and heart of God.
@@WillowVHC You think? It has those few sections of unison singing, but it seems like the majority of it is full on complex harmonizing. Choral music is really an umbrella term that would include Gregorian/liturgical chants and the like. To me this seems too intricate and musically advanced to qualify as simply a chant. Is it a crossover, or a hybrid, maybe?😁
It's amazing when you think that there are no musical instruments in this piece, just human voices.
My first time hearing it! I was so lost in the fullness of the sound, that it didn't even occur to me there were no musical intruments until I read your comment! ❤️✌🏻❤️
David Hanson ..and only male ones.
TryingToBeKind The voice is a instrument
Normally in all little bit better choirs there no instruments
Phong Nguyen yes, Mozart’s favorite musical instrument.
"This has to be the most beautiful sound I've ever heard." Well said my friend. You get it.
This is wonderful and close to unbelievable, but listen to the equivalent in Eastern orthodox Christianity of Piotr Ilyich Tsaikhovsky hymn of the cherubim. If you are crazy about miserere mei YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE YOUR EARS!!!!! TSAIKHOVSKY CREATED THE HYMN OF THE UNIVERSE!!!!!!
@@giannistsoukatos4205 lol keep dreaming Orthobro you're just mad a Catholic wrote this. Allegri's Miserere is lightyears ahead of Tchaikovsky's Hymn of the Cherubim.
I went to high school in Germany, army brat. My humanities teacher took us to a small, stone church built in the 13th century to hear Christmas service. The entire service was in Latin and it included the choir singing this. Standing there in that church listening to this I had a feeling I haven’t had before or since. I felt a part of something so large and yet personally so insignificant at the same time.
That day, you touched your Creator.❤
'I felt a part of something so large and yet personally so insignificant at the same time.'
This is how I feel when I hear early or Baroque music.
Must have been a traditional Latin catholic mass
@@keytube1012 traditional Latin Catholic mass changed my life. Havent stopped going ever since
DEUS VULT Eterna DEUS
I am Muslim but I realy love this piece and Christian music is very good
I love that you admit it.👏 I'm not even religious but, beautiful music and songs have to be praised regardless of where they're coming from.
Please could you recommend some Muslim music to listen to? Religious or any other.
@@wendylou3612 In response to your request here is a nasheed - part of a poem in praise of the Prophet (PBUH)
th-cam.com/video/lEAWIc_YtrE/w-d-xo.html
@@wendylou3612 And here is another
th-cam.com/video/TaMeTh7iDxc/w-d-xo.html
@@AbuLaith1963 Thank you so much
James, you cannot believe what a blessing you are. Watching you close your eyes and let the beauty of the music take over. Thank you for being you.
This is a beautiful song. I too, just came this piece earlier in the night. I got the same EXACT feeling and emotions he had whilst listening to this. 💓
The first time I heard it, it quickly became the most beautiful piece of music I had ever heard.
When I'm stressed and I can't sleep I listen to Gregorian Chants and music like this. Beautiful.
God bless the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church
There's a cool story behind this music. Allegri was a member of the Sistene Chapel choir in Rome, and he wrote this music to be sung during Holy Week at the Vatican. When people heard it, they were stunned, it was the most beautiful, mysterious music they'd ever heard. The Pope at the time felt that the Vatican was the only place sacred enough in the world to hear the beauty of it. It was decreed that it could only be performed in the Vatican, during Holy Week. Nobody was allowed to copy it, no one was allowed to perform it anywhere else. Anyone caught breaking this rule would recieve a pretty hefty punishment: they'd be excommunicated from the church. Yikes. Music so amazing that if you try to steal it, you're going to hell!😯
So for generations, unless you travelled to Rome, went to the Vatican, during Holy Week, to the right place at the right time, you were never going to hear that music. It gained this mysterious, exclusive reputation. Who would dare break such a serious rule and risk eternal punishment?
In 1770, we got the answer. Young, brilliant, precocious, 14-year old Mozart. That year he travelled with his parents to Rome for Holy Week to celebrate. This would be his chance to hear this mysterious piece of music. They went into the chapel to hear it. As you can imagine it blew young Mozart's mind. However he was clearly not interested in abiding by anyone's rules. They went back to their accommodations, and he sat there and wrote the whole thing down, all the complicated harmonies, from memory, after hearing it once. He went back on Friday to listen to it one more time, just to make sure he got it right. He thought everyone should be able to hear music that beautiful. It shouldn't be locked up. It should be shared.
Eventually it got out about what he'd done. A lot of time had passed since the Miserere was written. Perhaps the Pope and the clergy in charge in the 1770's were not quite as strict and compassionless. When the word got back to the Vatican, rather than gathering up their excommunication supplies😆, they were so damn impressed that this 14-year old kid had the audacity and genius to go in there and memorize the whole thing in one sitting. Not only was he he not punished, he was commended. Like, "Good on you, you little smarty pants!"
I mean, c'mon, who's going to have the guts to throw a charming, child-prodigy, musical genius, little Mozart into hell for all eternity?
And that's why we're all allowed to listen to this music today. Thanks, Wolfgang!❤❤😁😁
Thank you so much for sharing this. I feel closer to GOD when listening to this.
Wow - thanx for sharing this.....Mozart was such a genius.....
Holly Odell Thank you for this awesome back story! ❤️✌🏻❤️
Holly Odell PRAYER OF KING DAVID ASKING FOR MERCY WHEN HE COMMITTED SIN AGAINST BATHSEBA WHOSE HUSBAND HE HAD MURDERED???? OF COURSE THE MAIN THING IS THAT HE COMMITTED THIS SINS AGAINST GOD.
Holly Odell Thank you for taking the time to write up this amazing story.
I looked up the English translation.
Based on Psalm 51
Have mercy on me, God
According to your great kindness
And according to the multitude of your mercies,
Erase my iniquities
Wash me completely from my iniquities
And cleanse me of my sins
For I know my iniquities
And my sins are always before me
To you alone, I have sinned
And done evil before you
That you may be fair in your speech
And justified in your judgement
Behold, I was conceived in iniquity
And in sin did my mother conceived me
Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts
And you teach me wisdom in the hidden places
Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow
Let me hear your joy and gladness
And my humble bones will rejoice
Turn your face away from my sins
And erase all of my iniquities
Create in me a pure heart, oh, God,
And renew your right spirit within me
Do not turn me away from your sight,
And do not take your Holy Spirit from me
Return your gladness and salvation to me
And uphold me with a willing spirit
I will teach sinners your way
And they will be converted unto you
Save me from blood,
God, God of my salvation
My tongue will praise of your righteousness
Lord, open my lips
And my mouth will sing your glory
Because you have not desired sacrifices
For you don't delight in sacrifices, or I would do so
Nor do you desire burnt offerings
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit
A broken and humble heart
God will not despise
Do well before the Lord in your good pleasure to Zion
And build the walls of Jerusalem
Then you accept the sacrifices of righteousness
In oblations and burnt offerings
Then they will offer bulls on your altar.
lyricstranslate.com
It shows your high intelligence that you are willing to go out of your comfort zone to listen to this. I grew up with this since my parents played this on Sundays and they made us sit down and shut up to listen to this. I learned to like it a lot more later in life. Listen to Faure too, you will be blown away. It is like you are in heaven.
Can you recommend any pieces?
@@Criticalmass96 th-cam.com/video/TPuamc2_RxA/w-d-xo.html
I loved watching your reactions and hearing your words. I was a boy chorister in England and this glorious work was sung every Ash Wednesday at the Imposition of the Ashes. It never fails to move me to tears. In later life I now sing the alto or bass line, and have often sung in the quartet. The high voice in the quartet is a boy treble/soprano.
Thank you for sharing your enjoyment of this beautiful piece. Listening to this kind of sacred music can be prayer in itself. I grew up with this choral genre, it was everyday listening and singing for me in school, though my family were not religious at all. As a child I had no idea this music was complex, was not cool, was not relevant to pop culture, was allegedly ‘elitist’.....etc. I just felt and instinctively knew deep down that I loved it very much. I didn’t identify with it (like when you’re listening to pop songs as a teenager), but the opposite - when I listened to and sang this music, ‘I’ disappeared and it was liberating. I’m so grateful that I had teachers who could share this music with me and my friends and give us the skills to sing it together. That was the public school system back in the day, before it was deemed that music like this was inappropriate for young people and therefore, only accessible in private schools who didn’t have to tow the progressive line. So much Beauty is deliberately withheld from the souls of young students by The System. Bless you for sharing your love of it and for all those who are finding ways to enable others to enjoy it too. As others on this thread have commented, there’s no substitute for hearing this sung live in the wonderful acoustic of a beautiful church or cathedral. That goes for all the unaccompanied sacred choral genre which is written specifically with those resonant acoustics in mind.
I'm an older woman who wandered far from music I used to love, for reasons that don't make much sense. Thank you for somehow allowing me to find it again and experience it as if for the first time. You have a gift, and you've given me a wonderful gift.
I absolutely love your reactions to all the different styles of music you listen to. What you are showing is what music is for, reaching into the soul. Please continue searching for more it brings a smile to my face and a glow in my heart, thank you.
I was lucky enough to sing this song when I was in a boys choir. The miracle of it always was, it seemed to me, that every time the boy soprano sang that solo phrase, it felt like it was higher than the last time, even though they were the same notes.
James. I just came upon your show. Wonderful. I have sung classical choral music for many years. I have sung the Miserere many times and it is one of my favorites. Your show is opening up a genre of music that some people did not know existed. You are truly blessed.
This is a wonderful piece.
So pleased you liked it. There is music for all times, hyping up, dancing, chilling or just letting your mind roam free. It's great that you can appreciate many different formats.
Exquisite, ethereal....
Omg, you listened to this???? I cant check out your reaction right now as I'm in a restaurant, but I'm going to as soon as I can.
That is an amazing, unearthly piece of music. It's so pure and perfect, it takes you out of the regular world and brings you up into the sky. Once in awhile I need to go outside, sit back, put headphones on, close my eyes and listen to this. It's important to remember there are beautiful, awe inspiring things in the world, especially if you're going through difficult stuff.
Just finished watching your reaction. It was fantastic. Miserere is an amazing piece of music which gives us a glimpse into the eternity of creation. Heaven and angels worshipping. Do make sure you listen to live renditions too- there is a deep well to drink from with this piece (: And you can really see that Jesus lives in you - not just in this video. It is honestly refreshing to come across a man with true childlike wisdom and humility, as the Lord exhorted us to be like. God bless you.
Commenting on one of your older reactions, but, this music - and, your reaction to it - deserve their own reactions. I've heard this amazing piece of music for 60+ years, and just as with the very first time, when the boy-soprano's voice soars up over everyone else, I have tears in my eyes. My late partner and I both shared a love of the sublime sounds of a boychoir, and we were lucky enough to attend a performance by the New College Choir...while they did not sing this, it was well-worth the price of the tickets and 2 1/2 hour drive....this reaction was worth it, as well!
James, you remind me of why I became a musician to begin with. Your delight with classical music is like food to me. God bless you.
Psalm 51...asking for mercy
Ana Parada Psalm 50 Douay-Rheims official Holy Bible Roman Catholic Church.
...even more beautiful when you understand what they're singing/chanting; King David's admission of guilt and plea for forgiveness from God after sinning with Bathsheba and murdering her husband.
I used to sing professionally for a Catholic Church, this was an Easter standard. Miserere Mei is Latin for have mercy on me. Of course the entire thing is much more, very long prayer set to this gorgeous music.
I used to aswell have mercy on me, O God
Sarah Vetoe I Pray you are still Catholic.
Psalm 51. It is so beautiful. Oddly enough, originally it did not have top C as the highest note, but top G. It was a quirk of it being rewritten by I think Mendelsohn 100 years after Mozart wrote it down where it shifted from a G Minor key to C minor key.
You think you were blown away by the recording, but to hear this in a Cathedral, or even a large church, with the incense wafting around and the perfect acoustics ... that is a major wow!
I love how much you love this!! I hadn't heard this before, so thank you for playing it. University college choirs are awesome for devotional music. Kings College Cambridge choir is great too.
Wow. Impressed you reacted to this. Love this work. So pure. Mesmerizing.
Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness
According to the multitude of Thy mercies do away mine offences.
Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my faults: and my sin is ever before me.
Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified in Thy saying, and clear when Thou art judged.
Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me.
But lo, Thou requirest truth in the inward parts: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly.
Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness: that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
Turn Thy face from my sins: and put out all my misdeeds.
Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
O give me the comfort of Thy help again: and stablish me with Thy free Spirit.
Then shall I teach Thy ways unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou that art the God of my health: and my tongue shall sing of Thy righteousness.
Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall shew [show] Thy praise.
For Thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it Thee: but Thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise.
O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young bullocks upon Thine altar.
The great psalm of penance.
Amen.
Amen
I'm so glad you listened to this!!! I had it on my ipod since I was in jr. High and people always thought I was crazy for having it but it's so beautiful. It's about asking for mercy and forgiveness and includes the highest note for choral voices ever written. I always get chills!!!
Bless you - you comforted a troubled soul tonight. Thank you for your generous heart.
all I can say is.. DUDE!!!! I just ran across this song earlier. Have been researching this song ever since. Name of the song is, "Miserere". I Think of it as, Misery.
And... When I was WATCHING you reaction to this video..... Dude... I GOT THOSE SAME EXACT "" FEELINGS " you did. I know.. And I KNEW exactly, in that moment the feeling you was getting.
I felt like I was being lifted into heaven, with the Voices of the Angels singing.
So many feelings in this AMAZING song. WOW!! That's all
"Mercy", not "misery". It's Latin for "Have mercy on me, God" (the first line from Psalm 51). This was composed to be sung during a Roman Catholic Mass.
“Music gives soul to the universe and wings to the mind” Plato said that “music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything”.
This my same reaction when I first listened a month or so ago brother! A professor of mine randomly recommended it, (not a music class) and he claimed the piece invoked an out of body experience. When I listen to the song alone and close my eyes the hairs on my arms stand up... it is truly beautiful and I cannot accurately describe the feelings it provokes.
Allegri's masterpiece was written sometime before 1638 for the annual celebration of the matins during Holy Week (the Easter celebration). Twice during that week, on Wednesday and Friday, the service would start at 3AM when 27 candles were extinguished one at a time until but one remained burning. According to reports, the pope would participate in these services. Allegri composed his setting of the Miserere for the very end of the first lesson of these Tenebrae services. At the final candle, the pope would kneel before the altar and pray while the Miserere was sung, culminating the service.
The idea of using a solemn setting of the "Miserere mei Deus" psalm likely started during the reign of Pope Leo X (1513-1521). Contemporaneous accounts relate the use of the Miserere in this way in the year 1514. The earliest surviving setting is dated 1518 and was composed by Costanzo Festa (c. 1490- 1545). Festa's Miserere was sung in the "falsobordone" style, which is an ancient and rather simple means of harmonizing on traditional Gregorian chant. His setting consisted of nine vocal parts split into two choirs, the first a five-part and the second a four-part, each alternating with the traditional Gregorian plainsong melodies, and then coming back together again for the last verse. Festa's setting was the first of twelve such settings collected in a two-volume manuscript preserved in the Pontifical Chapel archives. Ten more contributors, including Guerrero and Palestrina, are represented in these volumes before the final manuscript of Allegri's celebrated work, following exactly the same ensemble layout as Festa's original work and is likewise in the falsobordone style, closes the collection of twelve.
It was not long before Allegri's Miserere was the only such work sung at these services. With its soaring soprano parts (sung for centuries by castrati) and compelling melodic style, the work enjoyed almost immediate popularity. So impressed was some subsequent pope that the work thereafter was protected and a prohibition was placed on its use outside the Sistine Chapel at the appointed time. Chapel regulations forbid its transcription; indeed, the prohibition called for excommunication for anyone who sought to copy the work. In spite of this, by 1770 three copies were known to exist. One was owned by the King of Portugal; another was in the possession of the distinguished composer, pedagogue, and theoretician Padre Giovanni Battista Martini (1706-1784); and a third was kept in the Imperial Library in Vienna.
It is here that the first tale contributes to the mystique that has come to surround this work. The copy in the Imperial Library was brought to Vienna by Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705), who, having heard of the piece from dignitaries visiting Rome, instructed his ambassador to the Vatican to ask the Pope for a copy of the work for performance in the royal chapel. The Pope eventually obliged, but when the work was performed in Vienna, it was so disappointing that the Emperor believed he had been deceived, and a lesser work sent to him instead. He complained to the Pope, who fired his Maestro di Cappella. The unfortunate man pleaded for a papal audience, explaining that the beauty of the work owed to the special performance technique used by the papal choir, which could not be set down on paper. The Pope, understand nothing of music, granted the man permission to go to Vienna and make his case, which he did successfully, and was rehired. In fact, it is this elaborate performance technique, including improvised counterpoint, first employed soon after the work was written, that has been approximated in a recent recording by A Sei Voci on Astree.
The next famous story concerning the Miserere involves the 12-year-old Mozart. On December 13, 1769, Leopold and Wolfgang left Salzburg and set out for a 15-month tour of Italy where, among other things, Leopold hoped that Wolfgang would have the chance to study with Padre Martini in Bologna, who had also taught Johann Christian Bach several years before. On their circuitous route to Bologna, they passed through Innsbruck, Verona, Milan, and arrived in Rome on April 11, 1770, just in time for Easter. As with any tourist, they visited St. Peter's to celebrate the Wednesday Tenebrae and to hear the famous Miserere sung at the Sistine Chapel. Upon arriving at their lodging that evening, Mozart sat down and wrote out from memory the entire piece. On Good Friday, he returned, with his manuscript rolled up in his hat, to hear the piece again and make a few minor corrections. Leopold told of Wolfgang's accomplishment in a letter to his wife dated April 14, 1770 (Rome):
"…You have often heard of the famous Miserere in Rome, which is so greatly prized that the performers are forbidden on pain of excommunication to take away a single part of it, copy it or to give it to anyone. But we have it already. Wolfgang has written it down and we would have sent it to Salzburg in this letter, if it were not necessary for us to be there to perform it. But the manner of performance contributes more to its effect than the composition itself. Moreover, as it is one of the secrets of Rome, we do not wish to let it fall into other hands…."
Wolfgang and his father then traveled on to Naples for a short stay, returning to Rome a few weeks later to attend a papal audience where Wolfgang was made a Knight of the Golden Spur. They left Rome a couple of weeks later to spend the rest of the summer in Bologna, where Wolfgang studied with Padre Martini.
The story does not end here, however. As the Mozarts were sightseeing and traveling back to Rome, the noted biographer and music historian, Dr. Charles Burney, set out from London on a tour of France and Italy to gather material for a book on the state of music in those countries. By August, he arrived in Bologna to meet with Padre Martini. There he also met Mozart. Though little is known about what transpired between Mozart and Burney at this meeting, some facts surrounding the incident lead to interesting conjecture. For one, Mozart's transcription of Allegri's Miserere, important in that it would presumably also reflect the improvised passages performed in 1770 and thus document the style of improvisation employed by the papal choir, has never been found. The second fact is that Burney, upon returning to England near the end of 1771, published an account of his tour as well as a collection of music for the celebration of Holy Week in the Sistine Chapel. This volume included music by Palestrina, Bai, and, for the first time, Allegri's famous Miserere. Subsequently, the Miserere was reprinted many times in England, Leipzig, Paris and Rome, effectively ending the pope's monopoly on the work.
It is not known where Burney obtained his copy of the Miserere. It has been suggested that Maestro di Cappella Santarelli at the Vatican gave him a copy, which he checked against Padre Martini's manuscript when he visited Bologna. This is certainly possible, as is the alternative that he simply obtained a copy from Martini. However, both explanations seem unlikely given the papal strictures placed on copying the manuscript. Is it possible that Burney took Mozart's transcription, perhaps compared it to Martini's copy, and then published a cleaned-up version, minus the improvisations, and destroyed Mozart's manuscript to protect him as Catholic subject of the Holy Roman Empire? We may never know the whole story.
Burney's "plain" version of the Miserere has enjoyed many fine performances, indeed it is one of the most recorded works of the sacred a cappella repertoire. Among these recordings, I have found the performance of The Sixteen, led by Harry Christophers (Collins Classics 50092, now Coro 16014), to be the most satisfying. The Sixteen have wonderful blend, but at times, in other recordings, their enunciation and diction have been less than ideal. This performance has no such problems. Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars have recorded this work twice, once nearly a decade ago (Gimell CDGIM339) and more recently a glorious live recording made at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Palestrina's death (Gimell CDGIM999). Their outstanding sopranos make the Tallis Scholars perfectly suited to this music.
As mentioned previously, a recording by A Sei Voci includes a performance which attempts to recreate the improvisational style used by the papal choir in its heyday. This involves counterpoint super librum, interpolated and improvised upon by the singers, as was common in church choirs of the time. These ornaments lend a special beauty to this performance. The Miserere is sung twice on this disc (Astree E8524), the first being the ornamented version, followed by the Missa Vidi turbam magnum for six voices, three motets, and then the standard version of the Miserere closes out the disc. By combining this fascinating version of the Miserere with other works by Allegri, Astree has created a disc of extraordinary interest.
Mozart was 13 when he traveled to Rome in December 1756, and 14 when he transcribed it April 1770.
This version is nice but I prefer the Tallis Scholars
I love that you enjoyed it! Choral music is an art form in itself. At whatever level, it is as much about listening as singing. And the world could use a lot more of that right now.
We wouldn’t know about this musical masterpiece if it wasn’t the inspiration of W. A. Mozart who transcribed it from memory when he was visiting the Vatican and this was performed in the Sistine Chapel. Gregorio Allegri the composer was a catholic priest and composer who composed a setting of Psalm 51 and was installed as part of services of the Tenebrae of the Holy Week specifically used in the Sistine chapel. It was not allowed for the sheet music to be published to the public until a 14 year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart came along and transcribed the whole piece by memory in two sessions. So we owe Mozart a musical genius a lot for letting us to hear such beautiful choral pieces of the late Renaissance era.
when I hear this piece my soul soars and for a moment I feel I may have touched the essence of my creator, only to know I am not worthy of the sublime experience.
I have always loved choral music. It takes me to another level...out of this world and into the spiritual realm. It is very very beautiful.
Good pick. I can see the angelic tendrils of grace and glory touch you as it is touching me. Simply beautiful. To sing without vibrato is not an easy task. Thank you so much.
Listening to this makes me think that this is what heaven sounds like. That the ANGELS are standing behind GOD and singing his praise. Breath taking!!
Dionne Coburn Are you Catholic?
We would never know this is the most amazing choir song but the angels in heaven will be 10000000% better but we will have to wait and see
@@sapereaude6339 No. I go to no church. I feel they have their on agenda! I read my Bible and I pray. I don't need anyone to tell how I should believe. Just sayin.......
@@dionnecoburn134 why should I believe ,I m bound to no rigid dogma, I just appreciate the music
@@philwragg9529 I am sorry if you mis understood. I was not judging!! I agree enjoy the music. If you believe or not is your own business,did not mean to step on your toes!
Wonderful reaction 🙂 I was hoping you'd do this piece... Its beyond words & one of my favourites... Keep up the good work, reacting to the hugh variety of humanity's creativity 🤘x
It's Latin for "have mercy on me God." Agnus Dei means Lamb of God. What you are listening to is Psalm 51 (50 in the Septuagint and Dewey Reams versions of the Bible) in Latin
I'm happy you took the time to listen to this and happy watching you being you.
Me too
This performance brought tears to my eyes in seconds. Amazong. Thank you James. You are an authentic young man.
This is the song I think we are gonna hear when angels are making way for God and he is holding the devils dead body up and saying, "now and forever, will there never be any more hatred, sorrow, pain, death. Let the light come in and the dark flea from us. Let us live eternally, in peace and harmony. Let new life grow from the death in the past."
I have always thought since I first heard this piece that my soul had been touched. I can see that it touched your soul too. Literally breath taking beauty sounds.
I love you open minded towards music! Keep that up, and there will be a universe of discovery ahead of you
You my friend are reacting to the best music and with an open mind and that is beautiful to watch.
I like how you read classical music. The composers had very similar emotions writing the pieces. Respect
This is beyond beautiful !!!!
And thank you for all your queen reactions. Seems we have similar taste in music !
Yours is my favourite channel :)
2:42 This feeling I get from this. I can't describe it in words. I am in musical ecstasy.
The human voice the most beautiful instrument of all.
I adore choral music, especially when the harmonies are dead on. Magnificent.
I really enjoy music reaction videos in general but experiencing this particular piece with other music lovers was especially amazing. Thanks for posting!
I've known this song for 2 hours before you. Found it as a suggestion in the comments under one of your other videos. I'm amazed as well.
Thank you very much and Greetings from Germany.
P.S.: I would love a reaction video to Lux Aeterna by Györgi Ligeti.
Fantastic reaction and music from heaven :-)
Soooo beautiful. Feels like an accent to heaven ...🙏🏻🙏🏻♥️
English translation and original latin lyrics down below:
Have mercy upon me, O God: after Thy great goodness.
According to the multitude of Thy mercies, do away mine offences.
Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my faults: and my sin is ever before me.
Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified in Thy saying, and clear when Thou art judged.
Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me.
But lo, Thou requirest truth in the inward parts: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly.
Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness: that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
Turn Thy face from my sins: and put out all my misdeeds.
Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
O give me the comfort of Thy help again: and stablish me with Thy free Spirit.
Then shall I teach Thy ways unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou that art the God of my health: and my tongue shall sing of Thy righteousness.
Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall shew [show] Thy praise.
For Thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it Thee: but Thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise.
O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young bullocks upon Thine altar
(The original translation of the psalm used for the piece was in Latin)
Miserere mei, Deus: secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.
Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam.
Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: et a peccato meo munda me.
Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco: et peccatum meum contra me est semper.
Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci: ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum judicaris.
Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum: et in peccatis concepit me mater mea.
Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti: incerta et occulta sapientiae tuae manifestasti mihi.
Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor: lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.
Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam: et exsultabunt ossa humiliata.
Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis: et omnes iniquitates meas dele.
Cor mundum crea in me, Deus: et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis.
Ne proiicias me a facie tua: et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me.
Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui: et spiritu principali confirma me.
Docebo iniquos vias tuas: et impii ad te convertentur.
Libera me de sanguinibus, Deus, Deus salutis meae: et exsultabit lingua mea justitiam tuam.
Domine, labia mea aperies: et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.
Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem utique: holocaustis non delectaberis.
Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus: cor contritum, et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies.
Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion: ut aedificentur muri Ierusalem.
Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae, oblationes, et holocausta: tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.
My all time favourite piece of classical music that is truly beautiful is Ralph Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending. Give it a listen, it will feed your soul just as this does.
paula johnson Ooooooh of Vaughn Williams Serenade to Music!
That is definitely matter of opinion. Music that was written in that era of the Church is some of the most powerful music on Earth.
It’s so heavenly, I want to hear this music as I die......peaceful.
I love this piece so much and polyphonic music in particular really tugs at my heart strings. There's something about music that just makes you feel like you are in the middle of a beautiful wash of sound. If you haven't already, check out Monteverdi and Palestrina masses or motets by Tallis which are also beautiful. I'd also recommend Beethoven Symphony no. 7, particularly the second movement and the Handel oratorios - The Messiah is the most famous one but I also love Israel in Egypt. For something more modern I love Gorecki's Symphony no. 3 (also known as the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs). The words are from various places but the text from the second music was written on the walls of a Gestapo cell by an 18 year old girl and it is one of the most haunting and beautiful pieces I've ever heard
Thank you for letting us enjoy your reactions to this music and for being so open with your feelings. As a lifelong classical musician it truly makes my day to see young people discovering the wealth of absolutely incredible music that is available. Music is a universal language that everyone should enjoy no matter their taste and I look forward to many more videos from you!
Honestly Mate, this music made me a Catholic. You can argue with a lot of things, but not beauty.
It's a strong argument.
@@roodborstkalf9664 No it's not lol, you can like music and still find religion bullshit.
@@eaalders628 People like you explain why our society is collapsing. Utter contempt for the traditional practices that built our western nations and not a care in the world for the stabilising role of religion in a 'civilisation' dominated by greed, lust and power.
@@Wilantonjakov I think the church and religion was founded on greed lust and power
@@eaalders628 Yes but in a trillion years your faction will not produce it
Sound from the Universe...
I have no faith - except in the unlimited capacity and boundless ambitions of us all as one human kind. Thank you for sharing your first reaction to this piece of human perfection, was a pleasure to share that moment with you.
Divine. How people used to praise God when they had no other way.
That was indeed beautiful and gives comfort.
English translation
This translation is from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and is used in Ivor Atkins' English edition of the Miserere (published by Novello):
Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness
According to the multitude of Thy mercies do away mine offences.
Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my faults: and my sin is ever before me.
Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified in Thy saying, and clear when Thou art judged.
Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me.
But lo, Thou requirest truth in the inward parts: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly.
Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness: that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
Turn Thy face from my sins: and put out all my misdeeds.
Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
O give me the comfort of Thy help again: and stablish me with Thy free Spirit.
Then shall I teach Thy ways unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou that art the God of my health: and my tongue shall sing of Thy righteousness.
Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall shew [show] Thy praise.
For Thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it Thee: but Thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise.
O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young bullocks upon Thine altar.
The first three words in the song are "Miserere mei, Deus". So they tell you how to pronounce it.
It means "Have mercy on me, O God".
Feel like listening the voices of angels singing. Music has no chains and no borders
beautiful piece....makes me weep each time I listen to various renditions.
This is exquisite, and what we need ......asking for mercy.
This is lovely thank you for posting this video! Isn't it great how many different forms music takes!
This is my favorite piece of all time!
I am so pleased that a very modern and young guy like you is ok to listen to a sacred piece of music, sung in its original Latin language.... you are so right. The music is heavenly, really celestial. It reminds me that, whether we are believers or not, we all possess something strongly spiritual in all of us... a major part of our existence. kind thoughts to you.
Miserere is a setting of Psalm 51 (50) by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri. It was composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably during the 1630s
It's interesting to think that back then they were centuries away from electricity all the advancements in technology and medicine that we take for granted, so many things humans hadn't yet mastered. But they had people who could write music like this.
And that beautiful high note is a choir boy. The purity of the tone always seems to come easier to young boys...
They aren't getting voice-altering hormones in their system as early as girls do. Which allows for more training. Also the untouched voice, so to say, is more prevalent in boys. On average of course.
@@innit8376 boy's were and still are known to have better soprano than grown females. Why do you think the castrati existed.
this music moves me in ways I can't explain - I' ve always loved it.....♥
WOW. Thanks so much for doing this reaction! My constant nagging worked! I have yet to watch it yet. (:
When listening to classical Indian and Chinese music, I close my eyes and let myself be transported. It reminds me of the scene in The Shawshank Redemption when the fellow plays opera over the public address system...people are mesmerized. Thank you for you and your channel. 🧡
Reminds me of a place long ago, 8 yrs. of Catholic school. Beautiful.
Your comments are so truthful - Someone asked Arthur Rubinstein (a famous classical musician in the 70-s) what he thought about "blues" and he said: " there are only sorts of music! Good music and poor music. I think you reaction supports this opinion. Great and thank you!
This was played at my mother's funeral service. It was played during entering and departing the service. We received many beautiful reactions.
Thank you James. This makes me feel so warm and comforted.
Im new to the opera thing too. I love it. This is beautiful!❤💝💚💜🎉🌹
Dear Jblethal, I appreciate your feelings. This was King David's prayer to his heavenly Father after his sin with Bathsheba, taken from Psalms chapter 51. It truly shows how deeply important his friendship with his God Jehovah really was. As he cried out in his agony, he demomstrated his repentance and he was forgiven. What a wonderful Creator we have! He's worth getting to know. Thank you, all the best!
Watching you listen to this was very nice. GOD bless us all
Please post a reaction to Mahler’s Adagietto from his 5th symphony! Especially the interpretation conducted by Karajan! 💕 I love Allegri’s Miserere Mei Deus especially this specific recording! 💕
Agree, agree, agree and agree!
You look like your soul has been restored. So has mine. Thank You
I'm so glad you like it. it makes me feel so peaceful.
Truly powerful.
Ive never heard this before. Thanks for sharing.
Every piece of classical music he listens to he says it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard. His life is growing exponentially along with his spirit with every new classical piece.
When the one singer hits that high C you can actually see JB’s soul rejoice.
This is one of my favorite reactions.
I had the same reaction and my faith has never been the same.
“Have mercy on me oh God”. An a cappella setting of Psalm 51 by an Italian Catholic priest named Gregorio Allegri who composed music in the 17th century.
Too many people are unfamiliar with the great beauty of the sacred music of the Catholic Church.
This music comes right from the mind and heart of God.
You might enjoy listening to some stuff by Gregorian Masters of Chant. They do pop and rock songs in the style of medieval ecclesiastical chants.
Human beings are capable of the lowest cruelties and the highest beauty.
I can see the peace in your face while you are listening to this.
The most accurate term for this is Sacred Choral Music.
This falls under sacred chant more than choral.
@@WillowVHC This is NOT chanting this IS choral singing. Look up Gregorian chants and you will hear the difference.
@@WillowVHC You think? It has those few sections of unison singing, but it seems like the majority of it is full on complex harmonizing. Choral music is really an umbrella term that would include Gregorian/liturgical chants and the like. To me this seems too intricate and musically advanced to qualify as simply a chant. Is it a crossover, or a hybrid, maybe?😁
@@hollyodell4012 I don't even remember making this comment. Hmmm. I know it's choral.
@TheSauce Group perhaps had you read the other comment you would have kept your mouth shut.
Listen again through good amplified headphones. Chills!
I love Catholic choirs!
Reminds you you have a soul...