There's actually an interesting story behind this song, which I don't get to tell very often, because most people that would care in the least already know it. ;-)
It was composed around 1638 and for the next 150 years, it was jealously guarded by the Vatican and was only allowed to be sung on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Allegri supposedly composed it specifically to be sung in the Sistine Chapel and no other choirs were allowed to sing it, anywhere. To that end, no transcriptions had ever been released.
Mozart attended the Holy Week service at the Sistine Chapel in 1770, when he was 14 years old and after listening to it on Friday and Sunday, transcribed it from memory, thereby allowing the rest of the world access to it for the first time. (LOL. I guess that would be the precursor to internet piracy!)
Anyway, if you can't find a copy for free, this one is a really good version and you can buy the download for $1.94 from Amazon.
It's so cool to find someone else who likes the same music I do! It's very rare in Texas. Hopefully it'll amaze you the first time you hear it as much as it did me. It literally left me spellbound and in tears by the end.
Moria~
P.S. - Be sure to listen to it with a really good pair of headphones so you don't miss any of the really subtle, soft harmony.
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It was composed around 1638 and for the next 150 years, it was jealously guarded by the Vatican and was only allowed to be sung on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Allegri supposedly composed it specifically to be sung in the Sistine Chapel and no other choirs were allowed to sing it, anywhere. To that end, no transcriptions had ever been released.
Mozart attended the Holy Week service at the Sistine Chapel in 1770, when he was 14 years old and after listening to it on Friday and Sunday, transcribed it from memory, thereby allowing the rest of the world access to it for the first time. (LOL. I guess that would be the precursor to internet piracy!)
Anyway, if you can't find a copy for free, this one is a really good version and you can buy the download for $1.94 from Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TGVWXE
It's so cool to find someone else who likes the same music I do! It's very rare in Texas. Hopefully it'll amaze you the first time you hear it as much as it did me. It literally left me spellbound and in tears by the end.
Moria~
P.S. - Be sure to listen to it with a really good pair of headphones so you don't miss any of the really subtle, soft harmony.