Deep within the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel has been in continuous use as the Papal Chapel and for Papal Conclaves since 1483. Its music is on an elevated aesthetic plane and was closely guarded over the centuries.
Palestrina (1525-1594) was among the finest of Renaissance composers, with many of his compositions performed there. In 1770 while on tour in Rome, the young Mozart heard Allegris 1638 Miserere at the Sistine Chapel and was so impressed that he immediately went home and wrote it down, note for note, from memory. Now heard far beyond the walls of the Sistine Chapel, it is immediately recognizable from frequent use in film and television.
