During the first two semesters of freshman year in college, I had to take a course called Music History I & II. In brief, we learned about the history and timeline of music, from pre-medieval gregorian chant, to impressionism and 12-tone music. We went through a lot in two semesters and I was introduced to a lot of different music that I have never heard of. One of the pieces I was introduced to was Gregorio Allegri's "Miserere Mei, Deus". I was in love with the composition almost immediately. It has that peaceful, and mysterious feel to it that can most likely give you shivers at the first listening play-through.
The piece itself is a collection of psalms asking for forgiveness from the Lord. Each verse is played in either three musical forms. The first form is the choral homophony structure that you hear in the first verse. The second form is in the Gregorian chant form, heard in the second verse. It's very monophonic and lowering-body/church-like mystical.
The third form is a soloist quartet in SATB form. This one is very special. It's almost the same as the first form's homophonic structure, but it gives a bit of a melodious running from the soprano. It is chilling to the bone.
Each form is played after each other in that order for all the verses until the very last verse which ends in a homphonic chorale.
I wanted to write this arrangement for certain types of ensembles for a while now, because I just love this composition. If you haven't listened to Gregorio Allegri's "Miserere Mei, Deus", I highly recommend you do. Especially if you're intending to teach music, this is a highly known piece of pre-classical era music. It happens to be one of my all time favorite and an inspiration for Mozart's "Miserere Mei, Deus".
If you haven't listened to "Miserere Mei, Deus", here is a link to one of my favorite recordings. -
This arrangement is for a woodwind ensemble. The next ensemble might be a string ensemble. Who knows! But I do hope you enjoy this arrangement of a masterpiece. I didn't do all the verses, because it's just constant repetition of the musical forms, but I tried to do most of them.
I present to you, Miserere Mei, Deus by Gregorio Allegri, arranged for Woodwind Ensemble!
Thanks for reading and listening! If you like what you hear and see, please let me know in the comments below! ~ Joshua A. I.
Photo source: http://takelessons.com/blog/2013/01/getting-started-with-composing-for-films/