Gregorio Allegri
Gregorio Allegri (c. 1582–1652) was an Italian Catholic priest and composer of the Roman School. He is best known for his Miserere, a setting of Psalm 51 written for the Sistine Chapel.
Allegri served as a contralto in the Sistine Chapel choir from 1629 until his death. Beside the celebrated Miserere mei, Deus for two choirs, long reserved for Holy Week, his sacred output includes masses, motets and the Easter double-choir motet Christus resurgens. His chapel music continues the restrained Palestrina tradition of the Roman School, and the Miserere remains among the most often-heard works of that style.
Compositions by Gregorio Allegri appear on
Music from Heaven
The Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, in a highly acclaimed programme of unaccompanied sacred works by Allegri, Byrd, Poulenc, Britten, Barber and J.S. Bach.
When David heard that Absalom was slain
The Choir of Ormond College specialised in liturgical music of the 16th and 20th centuries. This recording also includes psalm settings, among them Allegri’s Miserere, a setting of the penitential Psalm 51 once reserved for the Sistine Chapel in Holy Week.
Keys to Heaven
The Australian Chamber Choir opens with the first recording of Agata della Pietà’s cantata Ecce nunc, written in eighteenth-century Venice by an orphan of the Ospedale della Pietà and reconstructed by Elizabeth Anderson. Sacred works by Palestrina and Allegri complete the programme.