The Pope cites Mozart's
Christian attitude on death
by Salvatore Izzo
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Sept. 7 (Translated from AGI) - "Every time I listen to Mozart, I cannot help remembering my parish church when, as a boy, his Masses would sound forth on feast days. In my heart, I felt that a ray of heaven's beauty had reached me, and I feel the same, even today, in listening to this great meditation, that is both dramatic and serene, on death".
These were some of Benedict XVI's remarks tonight after listening to a performance of Mozart's 'Requiem Mass in D minor', which was unfinished when the composer died, in the inner courtyard of the Apostolic palace.
The concert was performed by the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, with Claudio Desderi conducting, and the participation of the Coro Accademia della Voce of Turin and four soloists. It was arranged as a tribute to the first five years of Benedict XVI's Pontificate by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
The Pope called the Requiem "an elevated expression of faith, a faith that well knows the tragic potential of human existence and does not hide its tragic aspects, but nonetheless, an expression of Christian faith in its awareness that all of man's life is illuminated by God's love".
He said that "in Mozart, everything is in perfect harmony, every note, every musical phrase. That's how it is, and it could not be otherwise. Opposites are reconciled and 'Mozartian serenity' envelops everything, at every moment".
"This is a gift of God's grace," he said, "but also the fruit of Mozart's living faith, which, particularly in his sacred music, succeeds in reflecting the luminous answer of God's love, which gives hope, even when human life is torn by suffering and death".
A connoisseur of Mozart's music, Benedict XVI also cited the last letter of the composer to his father, dated April 4, 1787, in which Mozart, writing about the final stage of life on earth, confesses to have become "so familiar with this sincere friend of man... (that) the image of death no longer has anything terrifying about it"... but instead "appears tranquilizing and comforting". He says he thanks God for having given him "the fortune of recognizing in death the key to our happiness".
"I never go to bed," the letter goes on, "without thinking that perhaps tomorrow, I will have ceased to be. And yet, no one among all those who know me can say that I was sad or bad-humored when in their company. For this, I thank my Creator daily, and I wish the same with all my heart to all my peers".
For the theologian Pope, the letter "manifests a profound and simple faith, which emerges in the great prayer that the Requiem is, which leads us, at the same time, to love intensely the events of our earthly life as a gift from God, but to rise above all that and be able to look serenely at death as the 'key' for entering the gate to eternal happiness".
To the musicians from Padua and the choir members from Turin, the Pope recalled that "the young Mozart, travelling through Italy with his father, stayed in many places, including the Piedmont and the Veneto, but above all, we know that he valued the lively musical activity in Italy, marked in his time by composers like Hasse, Sammartini, Padre Martini, Piccinni, Jommelli, Paisiello, Cimarosa, to name a few".
He concluded:
"Dear friends, I heartily thank the Orchestra of Padua and the Veneto and the Choir from Turin for having offered us this moment of interior joy and spiritual reflection with an intense execution of Mozart's Requiem.
"I also thank Mons. Marcelo Sorondo, secretary of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, for the words that he addressed to me, and all the various entities who contributed to organizing this event".
A side note which will probably cause teeth-gnashing and apoplexy among GG 'dislikers'!:
Book prize for GG
Adapted from the 9/8/10 issue of
Mons. Georg Gaenswein (seen in the last photo above) has won the 2010 Premio San Michele of Capri for Best Book of Pictures-and-Documentation for BENEDETTO XVI URBI ET ORBI released last spring on the fifth anniversary of the Pontificate. Gaenswein chose the pictures and wrote the captions and brief texts to document the Pontificate. In his words; "To follow the Holy Father
urbi from his apostolic seat in Rome, and
orbi, in his apostolic visits in Italy and various nations abroad", and notes that "the end of one trip is always the eve of another one".
The Pope as Cardinal Ratzinger won the Premio San Michele Grand Prize for Best Book three times.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 08/09/2010 00:54]