Pope says new liturgical music need not ignore older church music

Published: 2006-06-27

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The latest musical compositions of the 89-year-old former director of the Sistine Chapel Choir demonstrate how new liturgical music can be created without ignoring the centuries of church music that came before it, Pope Benedict XVI said. In the Sistine Chapel June 24, Msgr. Domenico Bartolucci, who directed the Sistine choir from 1956 to 1997, offered Pope Benedict and a select few a taste of his music and the music of the 16th-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. The pieces included a special song of prayers for Pope Benedict that Msgr. Bartolucci composed shortly after the pope's election in 2005. After the performance, Pope Benedict said that having Palestrina's music and Msgr. Bartolucci's music on the same program "confirms the conviction that sacred polyphony, particularly that of the so-called Roman school, is a heritage to preserve with care, to keep alive and to be made known."

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