Psalm 51 and Allegri's Miserere

After hearing the piece in class last week I went out (iTunes) and bought a version of Allegri's Miserere. The version that I purchased was that performed by The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge (recorded in 1997). This version is much clearer than the more famous 1964 recording but lacked that really hair raising high C that we hear in the 1964 performance. The Cambridge choir does have the High C as part of the music however it just doesn't go to that breaking point that is so moving in the older recording. None the less the piece I purchased is still quite moving. That friday I sat down to do some homework which included reading Psalm 51, and as I read this I was listening to Allegri's Miserere. I read the Psalm and sat there with the Miserere Mei, Deus (Psalm 51) on repeat. I must have sat there for twenty minutes listening to the song. I was moved, I was in awe, I was speechless. Later that same day in the afternoon I went to my usual afternoon meeting (AA). Mind you up this point my day had been what I call typical not bad but not terribly exciting either. So the meeting continues as usual, people are speaking and saying useful things but nothing particularly revolutionary. Then as a person is sharing I start to tear up, then before you know it I start to cry. I start to cry in public out of nowhere. I am thinking what the he'll is happening to me? I ended up staying the course and sitting through the rest of the meeting instead of ducking out tail between my legs. People asked me what was up and I literally replied, "In all honesty I am fine". I ended up going for a walk to reflect. And what I came to realize is that I had come to terms at that moment with how fucked up my life had become and that I was the result, and that only a greater power than myself could restore me to sanity. I literally had a spiritual experience. What I think led to such moment of self realization was Allegri's Miserere. I honestly feel that the music had somehow found a chink in my emotional and rational armor making me vulnerable or susceptible to feelings and perceptions that I had defended against for so long and so furiously. Now this may sound extreme, farfetched, nuts, and impossible but it is what happened. This is the power of the word. Maybe Frye is right.