Psalm 51

Miserere is the name given to the 51st Psalm (Ps 50 Vul the Bible in the counting of the Septuagint and the Vulgate ), which is used as a penitential prayer in the liturgy. The name comes from the Latin opening words ( Vulgate ): Miserere mei Deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam - "God, be merciful to me according to your steadfast love, blot out my offense by your compassion ."

Famous musical settings are from Orlando di Lasso, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, ETA Hoffmann and Gregorio Allegri. The latter, Allegri's Miserere is doppelchöriges, not least became known that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart whose secret by the Vatican ( nine -part ) score in 1770 after only one listening to the station was able to write error-free from memory.

The text of the Protestant chorale " mercy on me O Lord God " is a German paraphrase of this Psalm by Erhard nurture woodland dating back to 1524. The song was itself a template for compositions, among others by Johann Sebastian Bach, Heinrich Schütz and Heinrich Scheidemann