Vatican
City, 12 July 2012
(VIS) - "It pleases me to welcome an orchestra such as this one,
which was born of the conviction, or better yet, of the experience
that music unites persons, over and above any division". With
these words the Pope thanked Director Daniel Barenboim and the
musicians of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for the concert given
in the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo to celebrate the feast of
St. Benedict, patron of Europe.
"Music",
the pontiff continued, "is the harmony of differences ... from
the multiplicity of tones of the various instruments a symphony can
arise. However, this doesn't happen magically or automatically. It
comes only from ... a patient and laborious commitment, which
requires time and sacrifices in the effort to listen to one another,
avoiding excessive egoism and privileging the best success of the
whole".
"In
these moments I am thinking of the great symphony of peace between
the peoples that is never complete. My generation, like that of
Director Barenboim's parents', lived the tragedy of the Second World
war and the Shoah. It is highly meaningful that the maestro desired
to bring a to life a project like the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra: a
group in which musicians from Israel, Palestine, and other Arabic
nations play; Jewish, Muslim, and Christian persons. The numerous
acknowledgements that have been conferred on you and this orchestra
demonstrate your professional excellence as well as your ethical and
spiritual commitment".
Continuing, the Pope emphasized that
the symphonies that were performed, Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth,
express two aspects of life: "drama and peace; humanity's
struggle against adversity and its enlightening immersion in a
bucolic environment... The message I would like to draw from it for
today is this: to achieve peace we must dedicate ourselves to
dialogue with a personal and communal conversion, patiently seeking
possible areas of understanding".
"I
wish and pray that each of you", he concluded, "continue
sowing the hope for peace in the world through the universal language
of music".
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