Allegri Miserere, 1824
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    In case anyone might be interested, attached is an edition of Allegri's Miserere that I have transcribed from an 1824 MS. It is a work in progress. The MS (found at IMSLP, here: http://sausage.whatbox.ca:15263/imglnks/usimg/5/50/IMSLP284076-PMLP21402-allegri_miserere_bsb.pdf ) only gives citations for the even verses (chanted). I have set these recto tono according to the practice of the Sistina at the time (c.f. Hugh Keyte). The Final half-verse for both choirs is not contained in the MS and this has been taken from the common Burney/Atkins version.

    The notation of the chanted verses is done in two ways: the first follows the basic Ratisbon/Medici practice: Longas, (semi)-Breves, and Minims; the second simply a reciting note, set as a Breve. I'm still deciding which practice I prefer.

    There may be variants between verses, as this is, so far, basically a direct transcription from the MS. I will be going through later to decide which variations are probably intentional and which are the result of a sloppy copyist. I do not have a MIDI at the moment, and my program as it is doesn't play the grace notes, so it won't give you the whole story. If anyone with a better program has the interest to make a good MIDI that would be fine with me.
    Thanked by 3barreltone CHGiffen ZacPB189
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Excellent work transcribing this! Are you using Finale or Sibelius (which, with some effort to get them just right, can be coaxed into playing grace notes)? If not, does your notation program export to MusicXML?
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Thanks, Chuck. I'm using MuseScore ('cause it's free and I'm cheap). It does export to MusicXML, if I remember correctly.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen kenstb
  • mrcoppermrcopper
    Posts: 653
    whew. I'll look more at this soon: but are you sure it's authentic to mash 16 or so notes (your grace notes plus the harmony notes) into a fraction of a beat, and then hold a chord for 8 beats?
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    This is a newerish version with slightly better pagination (possibly).

    As a side note, according to research done by Hugh Keyte (NB. I had incorrectly credited Martin Neary with the essay in the OP; I have corrected it there to the proper author), it seems that the most common transposition in the 18 and 19th Centuries was C-Minor, which gives the 'high-arching' phrase in the four-part chant the famous High C that sopranos love/hate to sing. However, there were other transpositions; the most extreme in the 1830's to E MINOR, giving top E for the first Soprano of choir II. This would then have been sung by two choirs: SSSAT-SSSA, all, except for the Tenor in choir I, were castrati.

    (Edited, 'cause I forgot to attach the attachment.)
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Mr C. This is what was written down: I can only presume that since this was a Romantic version, that it was sung with PLENTY of rubato and fairly slowly, too; not in the standard "Anglican" manner that the Haas/Atkins/Burney version is usually sing in.
  • mrcoppermrcopper
    Posts: 653
    I'm jealous. I know that sopranos go to F or more (Queen of the Night), but if you write a modern work with a Bb or even an A you get criticism. I wrote a C once upon a time and supposedly only one soprano out of the chorus could reach it. Then I sat with my daughters and played notes for them to match up to A6, an octave above most soprano music and a sixth above that 'impossible' C.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    Children do sometimes have phenomenal ranges. I had a boy chorister once who could sing from D below middle C to F above high C. Is A a really extraordinary range for sopranos these days? Certainly G is not asking too much.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Jackson, with my personal experience Sopranos don't like to sing anything higher than an E; and in my personal experience it's because they don't know about head register/voice - they try to sing in chest register up the entire compass.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,480
    If the choir is elderdly and amateur, E flat is the limit, IMO, and should be well-prepped.
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    I would never call upon a true coloratura for the Allegri, save for MACW.
  • ChoirpartsChoirparts
    Posts: 147
    Ah yes... a true coloratura...

    ..... what about the Helium solution ????
    Thanked by 1Ben
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    CP, I dunno- maybe it's in the same reductio absurdio (my pidgeon Latin) as the scissors solution, aka castrati. I can't put a smiley face in proximity to that term!
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    I think it truly was a shame that when Alessandro Moreschi and the Cappella Sistina were recorded on Edison cylinder 100 years ago they didn't record the Allegri and Bai "Miserere" settings with the Abbellimenti. It would have been invaluable to musicologists.
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    If that's the same recording that featured the Schubert"Ave Maria," Salieri, I won't lose any sleep over the likely Romanticized (how many entendres are contained there?) renditions of those pieces.
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