Allegri, Gregorio, 1582-1652

Gregorio Allegri was born in 1582 in Rome, Italy.

He was a Roman Catholic priest and Italian composer and singer. He studied music as a puer (boy chorister) at San Luigi dei Francesi under the maestro di cappella Giovanni Bernardino Nanino. He sang tenor at the Cathedral in Fermo from 1607 until 1628, when he joined Rome's prestigious Papal Choir. Circa 1636, he composed his famous "Miserere" for this choir. It has been sung at the Sistine Chapel during Holy Week every year since. The Vatican refused to let Allegri publish the "Miserere," and its mysterious harmonies were kept a closely guarded secret until 1770 when a 14-year-old Wolfgang Mozart wrote it down from memory after hearing it only once. Allegri also wrote several Masses and motets, and in 1618, he published a string quartet, 150 years before Haydn perfected the form.

He died on February 7, 1652, in Rome, Italy, and his tomb is in the Chiesa Nuova in Rome, the traditional burial place for Papal singers.