This setting of Psalm 51 is one of the most popular and beautiful settings ever composed. Today, we normally chant or read Psalm 51 during the Ash Wednesday Service during or after Ashes have been imposed on the congregation.
Allegri composed this setting most likely during the 1630s in Rome. Upon the first public "performance" Pope Urban VIII declared this setting be sung exclusively inside the Sistine Chapel and for only Tenebrae Services on Wednesday and Friday of Holy Week. Transcription or performance by other musicians outside of the Sistine Chapel was punishable by excommunication. Circa 1714, the music "escaped" the Vatican and has gone through countless revisions and arrangements.
Allegri's setting can be heard by clicking here.
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