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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   MOZART'S REQUIEM IS AN EXALTED EXPRESSION OF FAITH   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 8 SEP 2010 (VIS) - Yesterday evening in the Apostolic Palace at   
   Castelgandolfo the Holy Father attended a performance of Mozart's Requiem   
   played by the Symphony Orchestra of Padua and Veneto, and the "Accademia della   
   voce" Choir of Turin, conducted by Claudio Desideri.   
      
   At the end of the concert, one of a number of such initiatives to mark the   
   fifth anniversary of his pontificate, the Pope expressed his thanks to the   
   musicians and singers, reaffirming his particular affection for Mozart whose   
   music, he said, reminded him of his parish church when, as a child, during Mass   
   "I felt that a ray of the beauty of heaven had touched my heart. I feel the   
   same each time, including today, I listen to this great, dramatic and serene   
   meditation upon death.   
      
   "In Mozart", the Holy Father added, "everything is in perfect harmony, each   
   note, each musical phrase. ... Even opposites are reconciled and... 'Mozartian   
   serenity' envelopes everything at all times. This is a gift of the Grace of   
   God, but also the fruit of Mozart's own living faith which - especially in his   
   sacred music - manages to reveal the shining response of divine Love which   
   brings hope even when human life is beset by suffering and death".   
      
   Recalling the last letter Mozart wrote to his dying father, in which the   
   composer affirmed that death did not frighten him and thanked God for the   
   opportunity of recognising therein the key to happiness, Benedict XVI affirmed:   
   "That letter expresses a profound and simple faith, which also emerges in the   
   great prayer of the Requiem and which, at the same time, leads us to love the   
   vicissitudes of earthly life intensely, as gifts of God, and to rise above   
   them, contemplating death serenely as the 'key' that opens the door to   
   everlasting happiness".   
      
   The Holy Father concluded: "Mozart's Requiem is an exalted expression of faith,   
   one that knows the tragic nature of human life and does not remain silent   
   before its dramatic aspects; thus it is an expression of Christian faith, aware   
   that all of man's life is illuminated by the love of God".   
   BXVI-CONCERT/VIS 20100908 (360)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)