. . . the week before Easter, that this choir performed a special work: the famous Miserere by the composer Allegri. Nowhere else could it be heard, for no other choir was allowed to sing it. It had never been printed, and nobody outside the choir had ever seen the music, which was kept carefully guarded.

Wolfie's heart was set on hearing this music, so Papa took him to Rome. There, they attended Mass at St. Peter's Cathedral on the day that the Miserere was to be performed.

As the glorious music rose in that huge building. . .

. . . Mozart knelt in awe.

When the service was over and his father said it was time to go, he just knelt there as if in a dream. When Papa finally got him to leave, he hummed the music over and over again. He wanted to remember it all and carry it away with him for the rest of his life. He wanted to recall its sound whenever he wanted.

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That night, when Wolfie went to bed, he could not fall asleep. The music he'd heard that day was playing over and over in his head.

The music had to come out! So, he got up and quietly unpacked his pen and music paper from his suitcase.

There in the light of the moon, he began to write down every note he had heard.

When he was done, for the first time, the great Miserere was put to paper outside of the Pope's choir room.

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This marvelous memory for music astonished people for the rest of Mozart's life!

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