This Sunday the Church inaugurates its new Pope in a Mass with all of its Petrine symbolism; music this week includes the plainchant hymn "Oremus pro Pontifice" and Franz Liszt's late choral work "Pro Papa." In two sections, "Tu es Petrus" and "Dominus conservet eum," this evocative work was written in 1880 and was dedicated to Pope Leo XIII, who inspired the new Pope Leo the XIV (pictured: St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, 1878; The Art Institute of Chicago). Long under-appreciated, Franz Liszt's output of sacred music is only beginning to be explored today. Liszt only became a super-rockstar musician after his family decided he shouldn't become a priest, which was his first desire. In the 1830s, while living in Paris, Liszt began his lifelong fascination with chant and the music of the Renaissance. From 1861 Liszt lived in Rome, where he received the minor orders by 1865 (far from the "Lisztomania" of the 1830s and 40s). These works evoke and perhaps romanticize chant, but nonetheless can be spellbinding in their delivery. This Sunday's Gospel, as well as those for the next couple Sundays, comes from Christ's "Farewell Discourse"; this week, the command is to love one another. Around this, the propers encourage singing and jubilation; not surprising, given St. Augustine's quote "Cantare amantis est," which loosely translates as "Singing belongs to one who loves." For Offertory, we have a big and delightful contribution to the repertoire via the French Romantic Théodore Dubois; though published in 1913, it adheres to a Romantic aesthetic, and was dedicated to Jules Meunier, "Maître de Chapelle" de la Basilica of St. Clothilde in Paris. Scored for two organs and choir, it sets Psalm 98 in a grand manner. Dubois studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Ambroise Thomas, winning the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1861. In 1868, he became choirmaster at the Church of the Madeleine, and in 1871 he took over from César Franck as choirmaster at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde. In 1877, Dubois returned to the Church of the Madeleine, succeeding Camille Saint-Saëns as organist there. From 1871 he taught at the Paris Conservatoire and was its Director until 1905, when Fauré took the helm. Also on the program is an operatic "O salutaris Hostia" by Giuseppe Concone, the enormously influential pedagogue of voice in the 19th century. Today, Concone is known for his vocal exercises (solfeggi e vocalezzi), notable for their musicality. This piece is representative of his sacred compositions. When he returned to Italy from Paris in 1848, he became maestro di capella at the Sardinian court in Turin. On the Hall & Labagh organ, this week we explore transcriptions of Haydn's sadly neglected symphonic overtures; these are delightful works that I hope to bring to life on the organ, and later, with organ and string arrangements. Though popular in his lifetime, Haydn's operas are rarely heard today; they were staged at the wealthy Esterháza court and then forgotten. The overtures give space for the extraordinary musical ideas Haydn had in seeming limitless supply, spanning the immense stylistic changes that occurred over the course of his career. (fb)

Quite an exciting week for the Basilica, since it is the Pope's church in the New York Archdiocese (habemus papam!), so we changed up the program a bit this week to reflect current events. It is Good Shepherd Sunday (photo: Christ as the Good Shepherd, Rome, c. 250AD), and to celebrate the first American Pope, the Schola sings Virgil Thomson's setting of "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need," the American folk tune first published in Pittsburgh in 1828 in "Beauties of Harmony." The text, from 18th-century hymnodist Isaac Watts, is a paraphrase of Psalm 23 and John 10:11-15. Thomson was a prominent 20th-century American composer and critic, known for developing the "American Sound" in classical music. Entering Harvard University after WW1, he studied the music of Erik Satie, and after graduating lived in Paris until 1940. He was a student of Nadia Boulanger, and met many of the influential composers of the era. This work was published in 1937, before his later work in opera and film, and subsequent honors. Given the new Pope also prayed the Hail Mary as he greeted the world, the Schola sings Stravinsky's setting of the Ave Maria, written in 1934. He wrote a number of small-scale choral works which reflect his interest in early music; these works came after his return to his Russian Orthodox faith. It is also mother's day this weekend! At Offertory, we hear the chorus "See what love hath the Father" from Mendelssohn's Bach-inspired first oratorio "St. Paul," an 1836 landmark masterpiece with a libretto in German as well as English. Centered on the life and conversion of St. Paul, this particular chorus comes at the end of scene five, the farewell of Paul from Ephesus, based on 1 John 3:1. Begun in 1834, the Oratorio premiered at the Lower Rhenish Music Festival in Düsseldorf in 1836, and then in England and even America by March 1837 in Boston. This tender excerpt expresses the love God the Father has, as well as a Pope has, for his people. The Kyrie and Agnus Dei come from Palestrina's Missa brevis, first published in 1570, in the Third Book of Masses. It ranks among the finest Mass settings from any period, and though it is not based on any antecedent melodic material, its recurring melodic fragments make it seem that there should have been. Its intelligibility of text was part of the draw of the elegant Palestrina style, which conformed to the 1562 Council of Trent's directives on music. To celebrate the new Pope's South American connections, for organ music I selected a Pastorale by Domenico Zipoli. Zipoli was born in Prato, Italy, and studied with Casini in Florence, Scarlatti in Naples, and Pasquini in Rome. He became a Jesuit in order to work in the Reductions of Paraguay, where he taught music among the Guaraní people; he died in Córdoba (now Argentina). The music comes from his most famous work, the 1716 Sonate d'intavolatura per organo e cimbalo. Finally, to mark the beginning of the restoration of the giant Kilgen gallery organ at the new Cathedral, for the postlude we have the "Marche Pastorale" by Pietro Yon, published towards the end of his life in 1942 and dedicated "To my dear niece, Margherita." Yon was an Italian organ virtuoso, and became the Director of Music at the new Cathedral in the late 1920s. He was responsible for the installation of the current Kilgen organ in 1928, and he and his brother ran a liturgical music school out of Carnegie Hall. After studies at the conservatories of Milan and Turin, and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Yon served as an organist at the Vatican and at the Royal Church in Rome. During this time, he met Father John Young, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan, who was in Rome on Vatican business. After hearing Yon, Father Young brought Yon to New York to be organist of St. Francis Xavier Church; his brother Constantino Yon already held a similar position at St. Vincent Ferrer Church. (fb)