See preceding page for earlier items posted FOR 4/20/12.
'Song of Praise':
A birthday concert
for the Holy Father
Translated from
April 21, 2012
On Friday afternoon, April 20, at 6 p.m., the Holy Father attended a concert to honor him on his 85th birthday, presented by the world-famous Leipziger Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, one of the oldest orchestras in the world.
It was a present to the Holy Father from the Free State of Saxony and the City of Leipzig.
Music director Ricardo Chailly conducted a performance of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major, also known as the Lobgesang (Song of Praise), for soloists, chorus and orchestra.
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's remarks after the performance:
Most Honorable Minister President,
Distinguished Guests from the Free State of Saxony and the City of Leipzig,
Eminences,
Venerated brothers in the Episcopate and Priesthood,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
He began in German:
With this splendid offering of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Symphony No. 2, Lobgesang, you have made me - as to all those present tonight - a most precious gift for my 85th birthday.
This symphony is, in fact, a great song of praise to God, a prayer with which wee praise the Lord and thank him for his gifts.
First, however, I wish to thank all those who made this moment possible. Above all, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, which really needs no introduction - it is one of the oldest orchestras in the world with an excellent performance tradition and indisputable world renown.
Heartfelt thanks as well to the outstanding choirs and soloists, but most especially, to Maestro Riccardo Chailly, for their moving interpretation.
And my thanks to the Minister President and representatives of the Free State of Saxony, the Mayor and delegation from the City of Leipzig, the Church authorities and the officials of the Gewandhaus, and all who have come here from Germany.
He continued in Italian:
Mendelssohn, the Lobgesang Symhony, Gewandhaus: Three elements linked to each other not just tonight but from the very start. The great symphony for chorus, soloists and orchestra that we have heard was in fact composed by Mendelssohn to celebrate the fourth centenary of the invention of the printing press, and was performed for the first time at the Thomaskirche, the church of Johann Sebastian Bach, on June 25, 1840, by the Gewandhaus Orchestra. On the podium was Mendelssohn himself, who for years was the director of this venerable and prestigious orchestra.
This composition is made up of three movements for orchestra and then a sort of cantata with soloists and chorus. In a letter to his friend Karl Klingemann, Mendelssohn explained that in this symphony, "first the instruments give praise in their congenial way, followed by the chorus and the solo voices".
Art as praise of God - the supreme Beauty - was the basis for Mendelssohn's way of composition, and not just for liturgical and sacred music.
As Julius Schubring said, for Mendelssohn, sacred music per se was not a step above other music, but that each kind of music, in its way, must serve to honor God. And the motto that Mendelssohn wrote on the manuscript of the Lobgesang was: "I wish to see all the arts, especially music, in the service of He who created and gave them to us".
The ethico-religious world of our composer was not separate from his concept of art, but was an integral part of it: "Art and Life are not two different things" but one, he wrote. A profound unity that has its unifying element in faith, which characterized all of Mendelssohn's existence and guided all his decisions.
We see this common thread in all his letters. To his friend Schirmer on January 9, 1841, he wrote, referring to his family: "Of course, we do not lack for concerns and difficult days... Nonetheless, we can only pray fervently to God to keep us in the health and happiness he has given us". And on January 17, 1843, he wrote to Klingemann: "Every day I can only thank God on my knees for every good that he has given me".
Thus, he had a faith that was solid, deeply felt, and nourished profoundly by Sacred Scripture, which is shown, among others by his Oratorios on Paul and Elias, and the symphony we just heard, which is full of Biblical references, especially from the Psalms and St. Paul.
It would be difficult to cite all the intense moments that we have experienced tonight. But I would only wish to recall the marvellous duet between the sopranos and the choirs on the words, «Ich harrete des Herrn, und er neigte sich zu mir und hörte mein Fleh’n» (I placed my hope in the Lord and he bent down to me and listened to my plea). It is the hymn of someone who places all his hope in God and knows with certainty that he will not be disappointed.
He reverted to German:
Once more, I wish to thank the Orchestra and the Choir of the Gewandhaus, the Choir of the Mitteldeutschen Rundfunk [MDR, the Saxon broadcasting agency], the soloists and the Maestro, as well as all the representatives of the Free State of Saxony and the City of Leipzig for the presentation of this 'work of light', as Robert Schumann called it.
Through this, you have given us all the chance to praise God and in a special way, I can once again thank God for the years of my life and of my ministry.
He ended in Italian:
I wish to conclude with the words that Robert Schumann wrote in the magazine Neue Zeitschrift für Musik after having heard the first performance of the symphony we heard. They are an invitation on which to reflect: "Let us - as the text so splendidly set to music by the Maestro, ever more abandon works of darkness and take up the weapons of light".
Thank you to everyone, and good night.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/04/2012 18:44]