miserere.org is a unique and comprehensive discography and resource dedicated to Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere.
One of the most instantly recognisable choral works, the Miserere we hear performed most often is very different from Allegri’s original composed around 1638 for the exclusive use of the Pope’s choir. Over time, its history has slowly been revealed by through the work of talented scholars and the performances they have inspired. Their focus has been to explain the real story behind the Miserere, how it was performed in the Sistine Chapel, and how it evolved into the version we best know today containing the famous ‘high C’.
miserere.org builds on that rich foundation bringing to life the modern history of this wonderful music, in all its variations. Our goals are:
To collect, catalogue and highlight recorded performances so that performance styles and practices can be examined.
To create, curate, and signpost resources that enable anyone to learn more about this fascinating music.
To learn from the experience and explore opportunities for further research and development.
Our initial focus for the Discography has been performances produced and published on all kinds of physical media. Some recordings published online have been included, but the Discography will evolve to include recordings published on popular content sharing platforms.
We’re still “under construction” – working on the basic content pages and updating the discography database with recordings. We aim to reveal the site to search engines on Ash Wednesday 2025. We’ll be working on the following pages over the period leading up to Holy Week:
- Details of Miserere scholars, their research and its influence on recorded performances
- A bibliography of related publications and a guide to the most relevant modern performing editions
- Reviews, ratings and analysis of listed recordings considering both the Miserere and the other works performed
- Research, features and articles written and published by miserere.org
- Digitally restored editions of selected out of print recordings
If you visit the site beforehand and have feedback please get in touch.
Blog Our latest blog posts…
Website for Ash Wednesday
Three years on, a note on progress. Or lack of progress! miserere.org is finally online, with much work left to be done…
Introducing miserere.org
Introducing a project that aims to catalogue recordings, examine performance styles and approaches, and highlight all the best sources of information about this fascinating work and its evolution.
Blog Click here to read more from our blog…
Page last updated: 3 March 2025