Muti hates ‘sing-songs’, and so does the Pope

Riccardo Muti is backing Pope Benedict XVI's drive to discourage guitar ”sing-songs” from Catholic masses.

The traditionalist German pontiff has called for an end to the use of pop-inspired religious music that many Catholic churches have used in different parts of the world to attract the faithful. Critics have said the use of modern music helps the Catholic faith remain relevant and vibrant for young people and that it is better to have guitars and tambourines during mass than empty churches. But those objections have been rejected by world-famous conductor Muti.

‘The pope is right when he says it is necessary to bring our great musical heritage back into churches. ‘The history of great music was determined by what the Church did. ‘When I go to church and I hear four strums of a guitar or choruses of senseless, insipid words, I think it's an insult. ‘I can't work out how come once upon a time there were Mozart and Bach and now we have little sing-songs. This is a lack of respect for people's intelligence”.

Although many disagree with Benedict's views on music, there is no doubt that the pope speaks about the subject with authority. An accomplished pianist, he comes from a musical family and his brother, Georg Ratzinger, was for many years choir master in Regensburg, home to one of Europe's most famous boys' choirs.

Benedict's line on modern music is part of his bid to take the Church back to its roots. This has also led to him reviving the use of the Latin Mass, which had been abandoned after the 1962-1965 Vatican Council introduced masses in local languages.

Many Catholics are uncomfortable about the resurrection of the Latin Mass as they see it as a partial reversal of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which is widely viewed as having brought the church into modern times.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.