Requiem Memorial for Pope Benedict XVI

Requiem ex F con terza minore

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber

Date

Thursday January 5 at 7 P. M.

Location

Ss. Peter and Paul Parish Church

515 West Opp Street

Wilmington CA 90744.

One of the most immediately identifiable legacies of Pope Benedict XVI., which continues unabatedly even after his pontificate, is the profound effect he had on serious liturgical music. Known more for his rigorous academicism than for his artistic inclinations, he was a gentleman of refined musical sensibilities and discriminating taste.

While a single polyphonic motet might have seemed out-of-place in a church service two decades ago and a choral mass movement would have been unthinkable, Pope Benedict XVI. promoted a high standard of musicianship which has reintroduced choral music into churches, and not only in concert settings. This he justified by clarifying that the choir doesn’t sing instead of the congregation––as the detractors of choral music alleged––but the choir can be delegated to sing on their behalf. Stefan von Kempis, a well-connected insider from the German language department of the Vatican Radio, had the following to say: “When Benedict took over, it was with some reputation for artistic awareness, helped by the association with his brother, who was famous in Germany for his work with the Domspatzen choir. And he made it known that he wanted to invigorate the Vatican’s musical life, which he’s doing.”

The remarkable thing about this Pope was that he was a great proponent of the Church’s full classical music tradition, not interpreted narrowly in terms of simple Roman plainchant and austere Renaissance polyphony, but broadly, in the grand Central European tradition in which he was raised and which Musica Transalpina is dedicated to bringing to the United States.

Pope Benedict recounted the enthusiasm with which he and his brother would listen to masses by Mozart & Haydn performed at their village church for special occasions. He believed that there was a deep spiritual & psychological value in “baroque masterpieces” and concerted mass settings because they can help the faithful contemplate the joy of the the Faith by their confidence and brillo.

Click here to read Pope Benedict’s touching comments following a performance of Mozart’s Requiem.