Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laborant qui aedificaverunt eam - "Unless the Lord built the house, they worked in vain who built it" Ps. 127

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

From Spes in Domino: Pergolesi's Miserere - Music for Lent

  This is a very different musical interpretation of Psalm 51 than we saw last week in Allegri's Miserere.  In Allegri's composition the intensity of the soaring, unaccompanied voices leads us to contemplation of the Divine Mercy of God in Heaven. Here the urgent, dramatic orchestration pulls us down into King David's turbulent emotions as he comes to acknowledge his sinfulness and his need for God's mercy.  This clip is only the first part of a much longer composition, and contains only the first line of the Psalm: Miserere mei, Domine, secundam misericordiam tuam, "Have mercy on me, Lord, according to your compassion". As the focus of the Psalm moves from David's sinfulness to the abundance of God's mercy, the music in the later parts of the piece changes with it . . .

[click HERE for the rest of the post and the video of Pergolesi's Miserere on Spes in Domino]

"The Prophet Nathan Rebukes King David" by Eugène Siberdt

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