El Greco, St. Francis and Brother Leo Meditating on Death, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1600-02
Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning [NRSV, Joel 2:12]'
Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
Ash Wednesday
Click to go immediately to:
1) The Music Programme Homepage
2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist
3) The Concert Calendar
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During the imposition of ashes, the choir will sing Gregorio Allegri's much celebrated Miserere.
Gregorio Allegri
1582 - 1652
Read about Gregorio Allegri in Wikipedia.
A brief biography in Classical Net with a link to a discussion of Mozart and the Miserere Mei Deus.
Click for the text and English translation of Miserere mei Deus.
Dave Lamson of Classical Net praises the performances of the Miserere by The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars and by the Ensemble A Sei Voci with its two versions, one with baroque ornamentation and the other the traditional simple version.
Performance by The Sixteen, Harry Christophers conducting. [YouTube]; [BNQ; BM] (info)
Performances by The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips, conducting:
Merton College, Oxford, performance (1980) [YouTube]
Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, Palestrina's 400th anniversary (1994) [YouTube]
2007 recording [Grooveshare]
2007 recording, 2nd performance including additional embellishments by Deborah Roberts [BNQ; BM] (info)
Performances by the Ensemble A Sei Voci, Bernard Fabre-Garrus conducting:
Version with baroque ornamentation reconstructed by Jean Lionnet [musicMe]
Simple version [musicMe]
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Performance, edited by Hugh Keyte, of the Taverner Consort, the Taverner Choir, Andrew Parrott conducting [YouTube]
Performance by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge; Roy Goodman, treble, Sir David Willcocks conducting (1963) [YouTube]
Performance by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, Richard Marlow conducting. [YouTube]
Performance, edited by John Rutter, by the Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge; Julius Foo; Peter Hicks; Thomas Mullock, treble; Leo Tomita, counter-tenor; Tristan Hambleton; Basil McDonald, bass; Andrew Nethsingha conducting [YouTube]
Performance of St. John's College Choir, Cambridge; George Guest conducting [CML] (info)
Performance of the Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine, Gaël De Kerret conducting [YouTube]
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A lengthy discussion of how Allegri's Miserere Mei reached the public: Allegri's Miserere: A Quest for the Holy Grail? By Ben Byram-Wigfield. (Make sure that you adjust the size of your Adobe reader to 100% for comfortable reading.)
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Franz Liszt composed a fantasy for piano on Allegri's celebrated Miserere, followed by a version of Mozart's Ave verum corpus, under the title À la Chapelle Sixtine [Searle 461 - two versions]. Versions of this fantasy for orchestra [Searle 360] and piano four-hands [Searle 363 not available for free online listening] followed closely the 2nd version for piano. There is also a version for organ [Searle 658] with the title Évocation à la Chapelle Sixtine.
Two versions for piano:
Franz Liszt, À la Chapelle Sixtine (Miserere d'Allegri et Ave verum Corpus de Mozart) [1st version], S461, Leslie Howard, piano [CML] (info)
Franz Liszt, À la Chapelle Sixtine (Miserere d'Allegri et Ave verum Corpus de Mozart) [2nd version], S461, Leslie Howard, piano [YouTube]
Franz Liszt, À la Chapelle Sixtine (Miserere d'Allegri et Ave verum Corpus de Mozart) [2nd version], S461, Valerie Tryon, piano [BNQ; BM] (info)
Version for orchestra:
Franz Liszt, À la Chapelle Sixtine (Miserere d'Allegri et Ave verum corpus de Mozart), S360, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Hartmut Haenchen conducting. [BNQ; BM] (info)
Version for organ:
Franz Liszt, Évocation à la Chapelle Sixtine, S658, performed by Marie-Claire Alain on the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Cathedral of Orleans [musicMe]
Franz Liszt, Évocation à la Chapelle Sixtine, S658, performed by Olivier Vernet on the 1888/2001 Rinckenbach/Aubertin organ in the church of Saint-Thiébaut in Thann, Haut-Rhin. [YouTube]
Franz Liszt, Évocation à la Chapelle Sixtine, S658, performed by Christopher Herrick, on the 1878/2000 Lewis/Harrison organ of Ripon Cathedral [CML] (info)
Franz Liszt, Évocation à la Chapelle Sixtine, S658, performed by Martin Haselbock on the Ladegast organ of St. James Cathedral in Köthen [BNQ; BM] (info)
Franz Liszt, Évocation à la Chapelle Sixtine, S658, performed by Eric Lebrun at the 1852 organ of the Protestant Church of Barr, Bas-Rhin [musicMe]
Franz Liszt, Évocation à la Chapelle Sixtine, S658, performed by Olivier Latry on the pedal piano. [musicMe]
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The Communion motet for choral Eucharist on Ash Wednesday is Cristóbal de Morales, Peccantem me quotidie / I sin every day.
Click to go to performances by a number of composers.
Christian Dare: The Publican
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The postlude for Ash Wednesday Choral Eucharist,, O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß / O world, bemoan your grievous sin, BWV 622, is taken from the lenten section of Johann Sebastian Bach, Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book).
Click to read about the Orgelbüchlein.
Click to listen to the entire Orgelbüchlein byJames Kibbie at the 1717 Trost organ, St. Walpurgis, Großengottern, Germany
Performance by Ullrich Böhme at the Bach Organ of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. [musicMe]
Performance by Bernard Lagacé at the 1961 Beckerath organ of the Immaculée-Conception Church in Montreal [BNQ; BM] (info)
Performance by Ullrich Böhme at the Bach Organ of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. [musicMe]
Performance by Bernard Lagacé at the 1961 Beckerath organ of the Immaculée-Conception Church in Montreal [BNQ; BM] (info)