urgent surgical treatment, precedes the patient's death. Musical settings The Miserere was a frequently used text in Catholic liturgical music before the Second Vatican Council. Most of the settings, which are often used at Tenebrae, are in a simple falsobordone style. During the Renaissance many composers wrote settings. The earliest known polyphonic setting, probably dating from the 1480s, is by Johannes Martini, a composer working in the Este court in Ferrara. The extended polyphonic setting by Josquin des Prez, probably written in 1503/1504 in Ferrara, was likely inspired by the prison meditation Infelix ego by Girolamo Savonarola, who had been burned at the stake just five years before. Later in the 16th century Orlande de Lassus wrote an elaborate setting as part of his Penitential Psalms, and Palestrina, Andrea Gabrieli, Giovanni Gabrieli, and Carlo Gesualdo also wrote settings. Heinrich Schütz set Psalm 53 in a metred version in German, "Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott", SWV 150, as part of the Becker Psalter, first published in 1628. Antonio Vivaldi may have written one or more settings, but such composition(s) have been lost, with only two introductory motets remaining. One of the best-known settings of the Miserere is the 17th century version by Roman School composer Gregorio Allegri. According to a popular story, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, aged only fourteen, heard the piece performed once, on April 11, 1770, and after going back to his lodging for the night was able to write out the entire score from memory. He went back a day or two later with his draft to correct some errors. That the final chorus comprises a nine-part harmony, with a five-voice choir and a four-voice choir singing simultaneously, underscores the prodigiousness of the young Mozart's musical genius. However, the only source of this story is a letter written by Leopold Mozart to his wife on April 14, 1770: and doubt has been cast on it, owing to the fact that the Miserere was known in London, which Mozart had visited in 1764-65. The piece is also noteworthy in having been transcribed erroneously by William Smith Rockstro as having numerous high Cs in the treble part. This interpolated version is nevertheless extremely popular and widely recorded. Four settings were written by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (H.157, H.173, H.219, H.193-H.193 a). Louis-Nicolas Clérambault set one Miserere for soloists, chorus and continuo (organ) (date unknown). Sébastien de Brossard set one Miserere in 1688