Today’s selection is music written for people to sing or vocalise. I have not included any opera because I might do some of that at a future date but I hope you enjoy this varied selection.

First up is a very famous and exquisitely beautiful piece from the Renaissance. Popularly called Miserere, it’s full title is Miserere mei, Deus, which is Latin for “Have mercy on me, O God”. It is a setting of Psalm 51 by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri. It was composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably during the 1630s, for the exclusive use of the Sistine Chapel during the Tenebrae services of Holy Week, and its mystique was increased by unwritten performance traditions and ornamentation. A stunning piece which may just get the hairs on the back of your neck twitching. 

Next up are The Swingle Singers with a piece by the Argentinian Tango composer Astor Piazzolla. It’s incredible to realise that EVERY sound you hear is made with the human voice and is performed live. 

Next up is, in my opinion, a fantastic piece of vocal music. Lux Aeterna is a piece for a multi part mixed choir, written by György Ligeti in 1966. It is most famous for its use in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is incredibly complex and unbelievably difficult to sing. 

Finally we have another fabulous piece of choral music. 

Spem in alium (Latin for “Hope in any other”) is a 40-part Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis, composed in c. 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each. It is considered by some critics to be the greatest piece of English early music. H. B. Collins described it in 1929 as Tallis’s “crowning achievement”. 

I hope you like this selection. See you soon for another delve into the vault. 

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Allegri – Miserere

Piazzolla – ‘Libertango’

György Ligeti – Lux Aeterna

Tallis – Spem In Alium