On the evening of July 18, Pope Leo XIV was honored with a special Classical music concert, organized by the Diocese of Albano; the concert was performed in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo, just a few miles southeast of Rome, reported Vatican News.
The concert included the Polonaise with Variations from Niccolò Paganini’s Third Violin Concerto, and the Libera fantasia e variazioni sulla Norma by Luis Bacalov, based on Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma. Bishop of Albano, Bishop Vincenzo Viva, greeted the Pope, and reflected on the idea that such beautiful music can enkindle the hope for “a reconciled tomorrow.”
The Pope greeted those in attendance with his profound thoughts, noting that the world is seemingly filled with ugliness—wars, violence and other difficulties—but music and art can lift us up to higher principles:
“Having the opportunity to come together for an occasion like this is truly a great gift, because it reminds us that there is more than all of this. It reminds us that men and women, when we choose to, can join together to reveal a beauty that, from heart to heart, helps us to see and to lift our gaze toward heaven…
“As you know, just over a month ago I traveled to Spain, and the very purpose of that journey was to lift our eyes, our gaze, toward heaven. Music, art, and beauty are means that help us look upward, moving toward God, and toward what is truly one of the finest aspects of the human person,” said the Pope.
“The concert concluded with a projection of a star-filled sky on the screen framing the orchestra,” noted the Vatican News, as if to bring to the mind of the participant the immortal words in Beethoven’s Ode to Joy (translated to English):
You millions, I embrace you.
