VATICAN CITY, OCT. 14, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI praised a “masterful” interpretation of Anton Bruckner’s 6th Symphony, performed for him and the synod fathers by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Participants in the world Synod of Bishops and the Pope were treated to a concert at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on Monday evening.
The Holy Father said the symphony “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 exteriorization to its extreme consequences,” the Pontiff said. “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.”
