Rome (Fides Service) - “Extreme care must be taken to preserve and increase the patrimony of sacred music and to promote scholæ cantorum, while encouraging active participation on the part of the faithful”, Sacrosanctum Concilium affirms in the chapter on religious music. The goal of a concert held on 21 May in Santa Prisca on the Aventine Hill in Rome Roma, was precisely to valorise part of this patrimony. Music by Giovanni da Palestrina was beautifully sung by the Schola Romana Ensemble. More than a concert it was a return to the renaissance to rediscover Catholic artistic genius. The Missa Brevis, Lamentations, Offertoria, The Song of Songs were only a few of the pieces performed. We were struck by the expertise with which maestro Stefano Sabene directed the choir, making the music sing, rendering the polyphonic density of Palestrina’s music with disarming naturalness. Music which was enthralling despite the small number of voices used, an obvious fruit of serious work and in depth preparation.
A people to be a people must sing. A people without its own songs, its own music, which fails to vibrate and be moved by a musical creation handed down by its own tradition, is no longer a people. A people which is united sings when it comes together. This is true for African tribes, for nomadic peoples from the Middle East to Latin America. This is true of the Christian people which has always sung since the beginning. In the Church, art and music have always accompanied the life of the faithful helping them to pray, expressing that which their heart was unable to formulate with words.
Hence the importance of competent and expert groups like the Schola Romana Ensemble which help us to preserve the tradition handed down, reminding us of who we are, where we come from, the beauty and profundity created and bequeathed by our forefathers. Of course every people has its own traditions, its own music, and although it may be different and new for the sensitivity of other peoples, it is art, a creation of artistic genius and as such it always has something to communicate to others.
So we too here at Fides, we who live the missionary activity of the Church day after day cannot fail to give importance to the wealth of musical tradition belonging to all the different peoples. Knowing more about their music helps us to know more about the rich heritage of these people of whom we read and write every day. (P.L.R.) (Agenzia Fides 24/5/2004; Righe 30; Parole 437)