Excerpt from The Easter Book by Fr. Francis X. Weiser (*see note below), pp. 100-101

“… The Miserere is often sung by a choir at the Tenebrae services. The most famous for this psalm is the composition by Gregorio Allegri (sixteenth century) [#1]. It consists of a double chorus for eight voices, was written for the papal choir during Holy Week, and was kept unpublished by order of the popes to reserve this music for exclusive use in the Sistine Chapel. So it remained until 1769, when Leopold Mozart brought his fourteen-year-old son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, from Austria to Rome to hear the music of the Holy Week services in the papal chapel. The youthful genius was so thrilled with the Allegri Miserere that on returning to his lodgings he wrote out the entire eight-part chorus from memory. The following day father and son returned to the Tenebrae service carrying the boy’s manuscript, in order to check what he had written from memory. Only a few notes of the music needed correction. This prodigious feat was brought to the attention of the reigning pope, Clement XIV, who sent for father and son. The Mozarts feared that the Pope would be indignant at the plagiarism implied in the boy’s act, but His Holiness praised him highly, and forthwith ordered the publication of the Miserere for the whole world to enjoy. Since then, throughout the Christian world, to hear this great masterpiece sung is one of the most moving experiences of Holy Week.

Every year during these services in the Sistine Chapel the papal choir performs the “Lamentations” by Palestrina [#2], one of the most majestic pieces of sacred music ever written. Another choral piece by Palestrina is the beautiful Improperia (Reproaches) [#3], first heard in 1560, a work of great tenderness and solemnity. There are other musical compositions inspired by the “Reproaches,” notably that of Victoria [#4], the great rival of Palestrina….”

#1

Allegri – Miserere mei, Deus

#2

Palestrina Lamentations Of Jeremiah The Prophet

#3

https://www.youtube.com/embed/4Q-SkflwevA?wmode=transparent&start=0

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26-1594) – Popule meus

#4

Popule Meus de Tomas Luis de Victoria par le Choeur Cathédrale Collège du Puy en Velay

POLYPHONY FOR LENT

Benedictines of Mary- Jesu Salvator Mundi-Track 6 from LENT AT EPHESUS

O Sacred Head Surrounded

Palestrina O bone Jesu

William Byrd – Ave verum corpus – The Sixteen

GOOD FRIDAY

Astiterunt, Gregorian antiphon of Tenebrae – [Click on Youtube sign to have access to more Good Friday Tenebrae down the right panel of the Youtube page]

‘Lamed’ sur un ton de Tolede Chant gregorien

Lamentatione Jeremiae Prophetae (Gregorian Chant)

Tomás Luis de Victoria – Responsories for Tenebrae

HOLY SATURDAY

Office de Ténèbres, Samedi Saint : antienne “Habitabit”- [Click on Youtube sign to have access to more Holy Saturday Tenebrae down the right panel of the Youtube page]

EASTER

Palestrina – Sicut cervus – The Cambridge Singers

O filii et filiae

Regina Coeli di Antonio Lotti

POLYPHONY FOR OTHER TIMES OF THE YEAR

Palestrina – Jesu, rex admirabilis – Gardiner

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – O Domine Jesu Christe

Palestrina: Alma Redemptoris Mater – Tallis Scholars

Victoria (attr.) – Jesu, dulcis memoria – The Cambridge Singer

Victoria – O magnum mysterium – The Cambridge Singers

Tomás Luis de Victoria: Ave Maria

Arcadelt (Dietsch) – Ave Maria (score)

*Note:

“One of the friends of the Von Trapp Family (made famous in the Sound of Music) from before the war was Rev. Francis X. Weiser, S.J. Fr. Weiser became pastor of Holy Trinity at around the same time that the von Trapps settled in Stowe, Vermont. The Von Trapps sang at Holy Trinity on more than one occasion as a personal favor to Fr. Weiser, including a concert for Holy Trinity’s 100thAnniversary Mass in 1944.”
www.holytrinitygerman.org/Lynchpin.html