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Beat me to it. As used in Carmina Burana - 14. In taberna quando sumus

Suddenly reminded of the story of Mozart and the Miserere. The Miserere, a choral piece of exceptional beauty, was written around 1630 by Allegri. The Church in due course decided this was too good for the plebs so one of the Popes decreed that only it could only be performed in the Sistine Chapel in Rome and furthermore, this is the part I love, any of the performers who divulged, copied or gave any part of it to anyone else would be excommunicated. Ahhh original brand DRM.

When Mozart was 12 years old he went to Rome and witnessed the performance. Then later wrote it down from memory.

DRM didn't work then, and wont work now.

My 2 cents worth.

It was not long before Allegri's Miserere was the only such work sung at these services. With its soaring soprano parts (sung for centuries by castrati) and compelling melodic style, the work enjoyed almost immediate popularity. So impressed was some subsequent pope that the work thereafter was protected and a prohibition was placed on its use outside the Sistine Chapel at the appointed time.

Public domain notated music is being subverted by these a$$holes!

Most CDs survive 5 years. Some CDs were made badly - a chemical was used on the label which ate into the foil. You should check around, for instance:

http://members.cox.net/surround/uhjdisc/bronze.htm
http://www.classical.net/music/guide/bronzedcds.ht ml

But most are OK. Like most records are.

The piece was Allegri's Miserere and it was deemed too beautiful to be performed anywhere outside of the Sistine Chapel. There are numerous stories surrounding incident which is quite possibly one of the earliest urban legends. Anyway, the whole story is recounted here. Mozart may have reproduced the piece from memory after a 1769 visit (when he was 12). Mozart died in 1791, so it was "loosely" "around 1800" as the parent suggests.

Try taking a poll of how many indie artists heard Mozart's 5th

That would be Koechel 22, composed in 1765 (when he was 9 years old). Damn few classical musicians have heard it either. You may perhaps be thinking of Beethoven?

Best advice here.

Whether you can take 1K or 64K of notes is not going to make much difference when your ability to *understand* those same notes is not developed.

Although I could be accused of generalising across subject boundaries, I would honestly ask, is it really important what *quantity* of notes one can take? If the lecture is that detailed, then why is there no hand-out to aid students in their comprehension of the lecture?

And for those who want a *really* good example of note-taking (pardon the pun) without any recourse to so much as a pencil, check out this .

Thanx,

Nalfy

The next famous story concerning the Miserere involves the 12-year-old Mozart. On December 13, 1769, Leopold and Wolfgang left Salzburg and set out for a 15-month tour of Italy where, among other things, Leopold hoped that Wolfgang would have the chance to study with Padre Martini in Bologna, who had also taught Johann Christian Bach several years before. On their circuitous route to Bologna, they passed through Innsbruck, Verona, Milan, and arrived in Rome on April 11, 1770, just in time for Easter. As with any tourist, they visited St. Peter's to celebrate the Wednesday Tenebrae and to hear the famous Miserere sung at the Sistine Chapel. Upon arriving at their lodging that evening, Mozart sat down and wrote out from memory the entire piece. On Good Friday, he returned, with his manuscript rolled up in his hat, to hear the piece again and make a few minor corrections. Leopold told of Wolfgang's accomplishment in a letter to his wife dated April 14, 1770 (Rome):

"...You have often heard of the famous Miserere in Rome, which is so greatly prized that the performers are forbidden on pain of excommunication to take away a single part of it, copy it or to give it to anyone. *But we have it already*. Wolfgang has written it down and we would have sent it to Salzburg in this letter, if it were not necessary for us to be there to perform it. But the manner of performance contributes more to its effect than the composition itself. Moreover, as it is one of the secrets of Rome, we do not wish to let it fall into other hands...."

Wolfgang and his father then traveled on to Naples for a short stay, returning to Rome a few weeks later to attend a papal audience where Wolfgang was made a Knight of the Golden Spur. They left Rome a couple of weeks later to spend the rest of the summer in Bologna, where Wolfgang studied with Padre Martini.

The story does not end here, however. As the Mozarts were sightseeing and traveling back to Rome, the noted biographer and music historian, Dr. Charles Burney, set out from London on a tour of France and Italy to gather material for a book on the state of music in those countries. By August, he arrived in Bologna to meet with Padre Martini. There he also met Mozart. Though little is known about what transpired between Mozart and Burney at this meeting, some facts surrounding the incident lead to interesting conjecture. For one, Mozart's transcription of Allegri's Miserere, important in that it would presumably also reflect the improvised passages performed in 1770 and thus document the style of improvisation employed by the papal choir, has never been found. The second fact is that Burney, upon returning to England near the end of 1771, published an account of his tour as well as a collection of music for the celebration of Holy Week in the Sistine Chapel. This volume included music by Palestrina, Bai, and, for the first time, Allegri's famous Miserere. Subsequently, the Miserere was reprinted many times in England, Leipzig, Paris and Rome, effectively ending the pope's monopoly on the work.

A couple of hundred years ago the Vatican wouldn't let anyone have the sheet music to a famous piece, the Miserere by Allegri. Until Mozart came to listen, heard it once, and wrote it down from memory.

The story: http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/alle gri/miserere.html