1582–1652 · Baroque
Gregorio Allegri (1582–1652) was an Italian composer and priest from Rome, a representative of the Roman School. He served at the Sistine Chapel, where his Miserere for two choirs was performed for many years. This is his best-known work, and it is also among the sheet music on the site, in a version for mixed choir.
Gregorio Allegri was born in Rome in 1582 and died in Rome. He was a priest, a composer and a singer. He had a brother, Domenico Allegri.
He began to study music with Nanino. As a boy he sang in the choir of the church of San Luigi dei Francesi. During his studies Allegri got to know the music of Palestrina, which strongly influenced his own style.
Allegri was meant for the Church, and after his studies he obtained a place at the cathedral of Fermo. He sang in the cathedrals of Fermo and Tivoli, and it was there that he showed himself as a composer.
In Fermo he wrote a large number of church chants and other sacred music. These works came to the attention of Pope Urban VIII, and Allegri was rewarded with a new appointment in Rome.
From December 1629 Allegri served in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. He kept this place until his death. For this choir he wrote music that descends from the style of Palestrina.
Two large sets of concertos for five voices (1618 and 1619) and two sets of motets for six voices (1621) were published. Allegri wrote five masses and two pieces on the text of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Many other church works were never published in his lifetime.
Most of Allegri's printed music, especially the instrumental music, is written in the newer style of the early Baroque. Of his works for stringed instruments, one specimen was given by Athanasius Kircher in his book Musurgia Universalis.
Allegri's main and best-known work is the Miserere (Miserere mei, Deus), a setting of Psalm 50. It was written in the 1630s for two choirs, of five and four voices, in the technique of Italian fauxbourdon. For many years it marked Holy Week at the Sistine Chapel.
For a long time the score was treated as a secret: the Vatican forbade copying it, on pain of excommunication. In 1770 the 14-year-old Mozart came to Rome with his father, heard the Miserere and wrote it down from memory. In 1771 the traveller and music historian Charles Burney had the Miserere printed in England, and later the work came out in Leipzig, published by Breitkopf und Härtel.
Allegri died in Rome on 17 February 1652. He remained at the Sistine Chapel until his death. According to tradition, he was a good-natured and generous man who helped the poor and prisoners.
Allegri belonged to the Roman School of composers. His work for the Sistine Chapel descends from the style of Palestrina of the late Renaissance, while a large part of his published music is written in the early Baroque manner. Among his works are concertos and motets for several voices, masses and pieces on the text of the Lamentations of Jeremiah.
Allegri's main work is the Miserere mei, Deus. It is a setting of a psalm for two choirs: one has a plain fauxbourdon built on a plainsong melody, the other a similar fauxbourdon with elaborations and cadenzas. Among the sheet music on the site this work is available in a version for mixed choir SATB, at intermediate level.