B-16 was awarded an honorary doctorate. This from his remarks on the occasion:
...At this point, I would like to express a thought that has gripped me
increasingly, all the more so in as much as the different cultures and
religions enter into relation among themselves. Present in the ambit of
the different cultures and religions is great literature, great
architecture, great painting and great sculptures. And everywhere there
is also music. And yet in no other cultural ambit is there music of
equal grandeur to that born in the ambit of the Christian faith: from
Palestrina to Bach, to Handel, up to Mozart, Beethoven and Bruckner.
Western music is something unique, which has no equal in other cultures.
And this – it seems to me – should make us think.
Certainly,
Western music goes beyond by far the religious and ecclesial ambit. And
yet it finds its most profound origin, in any case, in the liturgy of
the encounter with God. In Bach, for whom the glory of God represents
ultimately the end of all music, this is altogether evident. The great
and pure answer of Western music was developed in the encounter with
that God that, in the liturgy, makes himself present to us in Christ
Jesus. For me, that music is a demonstration of the truth of
Christianity. Wherever such an answer is developed, there has been an
encounter with truth, with the true Creator of the world. Therefore,
great sacred music is a reality of theological rank and of permanent
meaning for the faith of the whole of Christianity, even if it is not
necessary that it be performed always and everywhere. On the other hand,
however, it is also clear that it cannot disappear from the liturgy
and that its presence can be an altogether special way of participation
in the sacred celebration, in the mystery of the faith....
Yes.
Yes. Bach is a miracle.
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