In 1770, a 14-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart traveled to Rome with his father, Leopold. During Holy Week, he heard Miserere mei, Deus by Gregorio Allegri performed in the Sistine Chapel — a piece so sacred that for over a century the Vatican had forbidden its transcription or performance outside, under threat of excommunication. What happened next became legend. Mozart, blessed with an astonishing musical memory, listened once and then wrote the entire composition from memory. After a second h