Noises from the Sistine Chapel

[Denise]

on September 8 – after listening to Mozart's Requiem Mass at Castel Gandolfo

Aniya and I just listened to the very same last night. She LOVES classical music. Maybe it is because when she was born, every night she fell asleep listening to Mozart of some other composer.

Musical Intermission. Noises from the Sistine Chapel
While the pope is in the United Kingdom, maneuvers are underway in Rome to replace the director of the pontifical choir. But the new one would be worse than the old

by Sandro Magister


ROME, September 17, 2010 – The Mass celebrated by Benedict XVI at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, on the first day of his visit to the United Kingdom, will remain engraved in the memory not only for the intense devotion of the tens of thousands who were present, but also for the music that accompanied it.

The Scottish Catholic composer James MacMillian, married with three children and a Dominican tertiary, composed the Mass for the occasion, naming it after Blessed John Henry Newman.

MacMillan is a world class musician. In 2008, the premiere of his Passion of Saint John, commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra and by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was conducted by Sir Colin Davis.

His compositions reveal a profound inspiration of faith. But they also echo the traditional melodies of Scotland. His Masses contain passages that the entire assembly of the faithful can sing with relative ease. In 2000, the cathedral of Westminster commissioned a Mass from him.

The critics do not agree. In any case, MacMillan is one of the rare contemporary composers of liturgical music capable of connecting tradition with modernity.

The Mass with the pope in Glasgow was ecumenically preceded by the singing of one of the most grandiose Protestant hymns, the Old Hundredth. It was followed by the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The Kyrie was sung in Gregorian chant, by the whole crowd.

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But the interest aroused by the Mass in Glasgow was sharpened by a second and more general element, which concerns the musical future of all the Masses celebrated in Rome by the pope.

On the eve of Benedict XVI's departure for the United Kingdom, the rumors swelled in Rome that there is about to be a change of director of the Sistine Chapel choir: the choir that by statute accompanies the pontifical liturgies.

For many years, since its "perpetual" director, maestro Domenico Bartolucci, was tossed out in 1997, the choir of the Sistine Chapel has been only a shadow of its former greatness.

At the time of the ouster, the only curial official who came to the defense of Bartolucci – a tremendous interpreter of the Roman school of polyphony that has its paragon in Palestrina – was then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

With Bertolucci gone, the papal Masses were brutally purged of Gregorian chant and classical polyphony at the behest of the directors of John Paul II's Masses, led by then master of ceremonies Piero Marini.

They called Giuseppe Liberto to direct the Sistine choir, a post he still occupies.

Since Ratzinger became pope, the Sistine choir has timidly returned to performing some fragments of the classical repertoire, but without raising itself above an invincible mediocrity.

But if – as is now said – Liberto were to be succeeded by Massimo Palombella, it would be even worse for the Sistine choir.

Fr. Palombella is a Salesian – just like his sponsor, cardinal secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone – and has no credentials other than the fact that he has spent about fifteen years directing the Interuniversity Choir of Rome, made up of students from the state, private, and religious universities of Rome. With this choir he also performs selections of Roman polyphony from the sixteenth century until today, from Palestrina to Bartolucci himself, but the quality of his conducting raises merciless criticism from many, including the one who taught him to no effect, Valentino Miserarchs Grau, president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Bartolucci's successor as choirmaster of the basilica of Saint Mary Major, and another prominent interpreter of the Roman school of polyphony.

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The strange thing about those who are pushing for Palombella is that they fail to consider that the reigning pope has a musical and liturgical sensibility and competence that are unrivaled in the curia.

It is known that Ratzinger's preference runs more to Haydn, Mozart, and Bruckner than to Palestrina. For biographical as well as musical reasons. A few days ago – on September 8 – after listening to Mozart's Requiem Mass at Castel Gandolfo, he said to the performers:

"Every time I hear the music of Mozart, I cannot help but go back in my memory to my parish church, when, as a boy, on feast days, one of his Masses would be played: I felt in my heart that a ray of beauty had come down to me from heaven, and I feel this sensation every time I hear it, still today."

Benedict XVI also knows, however, that there are various musical traditions in the Latin Church. That the German school, for example, is another thing with respect to Roman polyphony. And the Scottish musical tradition, heard in Glasgow, is yet another.

Benedict XVI also knows that every musical tradition is geographically situated. Because of this, it is unthinkable that he would call a German – even one of the highest excellence – to direct the Sistine Chapel choir.

In Rome, the liturgical music that accompanies the pontifical liturgies cannot help but be in continuity with the Roman school of polyphony.

As a result, if Benedict XVI has not yet decided to change the director of the Sistine Chapel choir, it is because he has not yet seen anyone within the Roman musical tradition who is equal to his expectations, apart from the great Bartolucci, ninety-three years old.

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From the Williamson case to pedophilia, Benedict XVI has had to exert enormous energy to repair the damage done by other representatives of the hierarchy.

But if – further damage – Palombella were appointed director of the Sistine choir, it would be very difficult for the pope to repair. The Sistine is the pope's choir. This pope is known for his competence in liturgical music, and his liturgies are offered to the world as a model. So responsibility for the appointment would inevitably be assigned to him. It wouldn't matter who had actually been behind it.

Or better, repairing the damage is easy, easy as can be. All it takes is to prevent it from happening. There's all the time in the world. The same thing happened last January, when Palombella's appointment seemed to be a sure thing, and was then blocked.

Liberto has been at the helm of the Sistine choir for thirteen years. Let him stay there. If not to the pope, Cardinal Bertone should pay attention to his musician brother, Georg Ratzinger. He too, all in all, would rather keep the Sistine as it is.