Overview
Introduction
Miserere (full title: Miserere mei, Deus, Latin for "Have mercy on me, O God") 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, for use in the Sistine Chapel during matins, as part of the exclusive Tenebrae service on Holy Wednesday and Good Friday of Holy Week.
Description and use
The Miserere is written for two choirs, one of five and one of four voices, and is an example of Renaissance polyphony. One of the choirs sings a simple version of the original Miserere chant; the other, spatially separated, sings an ornamented commentary on this.
The Tenebrae service where the Miserere would be sung normally began at dusk, hence the name (tenebrae is Latin for "shadows" or "darkness"). During the ritual, candles would be extinguished one by one, save for the last candle which remained alight and was then hidden. Gregorio Allegri envisioned the setting of the Miserere to be the final act within the first lesson of the Tenebrae service.
History
It was the last of twelve falsobordone Miserere settings composed and chanted at the service since 1514 and is the most popular.
At some point, it became forbidden to transcribe the music and it was allowed to be performed only at those particular services at the Sistine Chapel, thus adding to the mystery surrounding it.
The setting that escaped from the Vatican is actually a conflation of verses set by Allegri around 1638 and Tommaso Bai (also spelled "Baj"; 1650–1718) in 1714.
Three authorized copies of the work were distributed prior to 1770: to the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I; to the King of Portugal; and to Padre (Giovanni Battista) Martini. However, none of them succeeded in capturing the beauty of the Miserere as performed annually in the Sistine Chapel. According to the popular story (backed up by family letters), fourteen-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was visiting Rome when he first heard the piece during the Wednesday service. Later that day, he wrote it down entirely from memory, returning to the Chapel that Friday to make minor corrections. Less than three months after hearing the song and transcribing it, Mozart had gained fame for the work and was summoned to Rome by Pope Clement XIV, who showered praise on him for his feat of musical genius and awarded him the Chivalric Order of the Golden Spur on July 4, 1770. Some time during his travels, he met the British historian Charles Burney, who obtained the piece from him and took it to London, where it was published in 1771. The work was also transcribed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1831 and Franz Liszt, and various other 18th and 19th century sources survive. Since the lifting of the ban, Allegri's Miserere has become one of the most popular a cappella choral works now performed.
The original ornamentation that made the work famous were Renaissance techniques that preceded the composition itself, and it was these techniques that were closely guarded by the Vatican. Few written sources (not even Burney's) showed the ornamentation, and it was this that created the legend of the work's mystery. However, the Roman priest Pietro Alfieri published an edition in 1840 with the intent of preserving the performance practice of the Sistine choir in the Allegri and Bai compositions, including ornamentation.
Lyrics
拉丁文歌词：
Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.
Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem mean.
Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: et a peccato meo munda me.
Quoniam iniquitatem mean 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 occula 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 projicias 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 tuan.
Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem utique : holocaustis non dedectaberis.
Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus : cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies.
Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion : ut ædificentur muri Jerusalem.
Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae, oblationes et holocausta: tunc imiponent super altare tuum vitulos.
中文歌词（诗篇51篇）：
神阿，求你按你的慈爱怜恤我，按你丰盛的慈悲涂抹我的过犯。
求你将我的罪孽洗除净尽，并洁除我的罪。
因为我知道我的过犯，我的罪常在我面前。
我向你犯罪，惟独得罪了你，在你眼前行了这恶，以致你责备我的时候，显为公义。判断我的时候，显为清正。
我是在罪孽里生的。在我母亲怀胎的时候，就有了罪。
你所喜爱的，是内里诚实。你在我隐密处，必使我得智慧。
求你用牛膝草洁净我，我就干净，求你洗涤我，我就比雪更白。
求你使我得听欢喜快乐的声音，使你所压伤的骨头，可以踊跃。
求你掩面不看我的罪，涂抹我一切的罪孽。
神阿，求你为我造清洁的心，使我里面重新有正直的灵。（正直或作坚定）。
不要丢弃我，使我离开你的面。不要从我收回你的圣灵。
求你使我仍得救恩之乐，赐我乐意的灵扶持我。
我就把你的道指教有过犯的人。罪人必归顺你。
神阿，你是拯救我的神。求你救我脱离流人血的罪。我的舌头就高声歌唱你的公义。
主阿，求你使我嘴唇张开，我的口便传扬赞美你的话。
你本不喜爱祭物。若喜爱，我就献上。燔祭你也不喜悦。
神所要的祭，就是忧伤的灵。神阿，忧伤痛悔的心，你必不轻看。
求你随你的美意善待锡安，建造耶路撒冷的城墙。
那时，你必喜爱公义的祭，和燔祭并全牲的燔祭。那时，人必将公牛献在你坛上。
