VATICAN CITY, 14 OCT 2008 (VIS) - Yesterday evening in the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls the Holy Father attended a concert given by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, played the sixth symphony of Anton Bruckner. The concert is one of the events marking the bi-millennium of the birth of St. Paul and was offered to the Pope and the Synod Fathers by the "Fondazione pro Musica e Arte Sacra".
In brief remarks, Benedict XVI praised the Vienna Philharmonic's "masterly" interpretation of Bruckner's symphony, "which translates the faith of its author, who with his compositions was capable of transmitting a religious vision of life and history.
"We could say that Anton Bruckner, drawing from the Austrian Baroque and the Schubertian tradition of popular song, brought the romantic process of interiorisation to its extreme consequences", he added. "Listening to this famous composition in the basilica dedicated to St. Paul, we are spontaneously drawn to a passage from the First Letter to the Corinthians in which the Apostle, having spoken of the diversity and unity of charisms, compares the Church to the human body, made up of members very different one from the other but all indispensable to its correct functioning. In the same way, this orchestra and choir are formed of various instruments and voices which, in harmony together, produce a melody sweet to the ear and to the spirit".
The Pope concluded by expressing the hope that the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, "where the mortal remains of the Apostle of the Gentiles are conserved, may truly become a fulcrum for liturgical, spiritual and artistic initiatives that aim to rediscover his missionary work and theological ideas".
BXVI-CONCERT/.../ST. PAUL'S OUTSIDE-THE-WALLS VIS 20081014 (300)
In brief remarks, Benedict XVI praised the Vienna Philharmonic's "masterly" interpretation of Bruckner's symphony, "which translates the faith of its author, who with his compositions was capable of transmitting a religious vision of life and history.
"We could say that Anton Bruckner, drawing from the Austrian Baroque and the Schubertian tradition of popular song, brought the romantic process of interiorisation to its extreme consequences", he added. "Listening to this famous composition in the basilica dedicated to St. Paul, we are spontaneously drawn to a passage from the First Letter to the Corinthians in which the Apostle, having spoken of the diversity and unity of charisms, compares the Church to the human body, made up of members very different one from the other but all indispensable to its correct functioning. In the same way, this orchestra and choir are formed of various instruments and voices which, in harmony together, produce a melody sweet to the ear and to the spirit".
The Pope concluded by expressing the hope that the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, "where the mortal remains of the Apostle of the Gentiles are conserved, may truly become a fulcrum for liturgical, spiritual and artistic initiatives that aim to rediscover his missionary work and theological ideas".
BXVI-CONCERT/.../ST. PAUL'S OUTSIDE-THE-WALLS VIS 20081014 (300)
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