Sistine Chapel Choir
Encyclopedia
The Sistine Chapel Choir is a choir
based in Vatican City
and is one of the oldest religious choirs in the world
. At present, the choir comprises approximately twenty adult singers (eleven tenors and nine basses) and thirty unpaid boy choristers (sopranos and contraltos).
(314-35) we find a regularly constituted company of singers, under the name of schola cantorum, living together in a building devoted to their exclusive use. The word "schola" was in those days the legal designation of an association of equals in any calling or profession and did not primarily denote, as in our time, a school. It had more the nature of a guild
, a characteristic which clung to the papal choir for many centuries.
Hilarius
(461-8) ordained that the pontifical singers live in community, while Gregory the Great
(590-604) not only made permanent the existing institution attached to St. John Lateran and including at that time in its membership monk
s, secular clergy
, and boys, but established a second and similar one in connection with the Basilica of St. Peter. The latter is supposed to have served as a sort of preparatory school
for the former.
For several centuries the papal "schola cantorum" retained the same general character. Its head, archicantor or primicerius, was always a clergyman of high rank and often a bishop
. While it was his duty to intone the various chants to be followed by the rest of the singers, he was by no means their master in the modern technical sense.
in the thirteenth century, marked changes took place in the institution. Innocent IV
did not take his schola cantorum with him to his new abode, but provided for its continuance in Rome by turning over to it properties, tithes, and other revenues. Community life among the singers seems to have come to an end at this period. Clement V
(1305–14) formed a new choir at Avignon, consisting for the most part of French singers, who showed a decided preference for the new developments in church music — the "déchant" and "fauxbourdons" ("falsibordoni"), which had in the meantime gained great vogue in France
.
When Gregory XI
(1370-8) returned to Rome, he took his singers with him and amalgamated them with the still-existing, at least in name, ancient schola cantorum. Before the sojourn of the papal Court at Avignon, it had been the duty of the schola to accompany the Pope to the church where he held station, but after the return to Rome, the custom established at Avignon of celebrating all pontifical functions in the papal church or chapel was continued and has existed since.
The primicerius of former times is now no longer mentioned but is replaced by the "magister capellae", which title, however, continues to be more an honorary one held by a bishop or prelate than an indication of technical leadership, as may be gathered from the relative positions assigned to various dignitaries, their prerogatives, etc. Thus the "magister capellae" came immediately after the cardinals
, followed, in the order given, by the "sacrista", "cantores", "capellani" and "clerici".
(1471–84) of the church for the celebration of all papal functions since known as the Sistine Chapel
, the original "schola cantorum" and subsequent "capella pontificia" or "capella papale", which still retains more or less of the guild character, becomes the "capella sistina", or Sistine Choir, whose golden era takes its beginning. Up to this time the number of singers had varied considerably, there being sometimes as few as nine men and six boys. By a Bull
dated November, 1483, Sixtus IV fixed the number at twenty-four, six for each part.
After the year 1441 the records no longer mention the presence of boys in the choir, the high voices, soprano
and alto, being thenceforth sung by natural (and occasionally unnatural) soprani falsetti and high tenors respectively. Membership in the papal choir became the great desideratum of singers, contrapuntists, and composers of every land, which accounts for the presence in Rome, at least for a time, of most of the great names of that period.
The desire to re-establish a sort of preparatory school for the papal choir, on the plan of the ancient schola, and incidentally to become independent of the ultramontane, or foreign, singers, led Julius II
(1503–13) to issue, on 19 February 1512, a Bull founding the capella Julia, which to this day performs all the choir duties at St. Peter's. It became indeed, and has ever since been, a nursery for, and stepping-stone to, membership in the Sistine Choir. The high artistic aims of its founder have, however, but rarely been attained, owing to the rarity of the truly great choirmasters.
Leo X
(1513–21), himself a musician, by choosing as head of the organization a real musician, irrespective of his clerical rank, took a step which was of the greatest importance for the future. It had the effect of transforming a group of vocal virtuosi on equal footing into a compact vocal body, whose interpretation of the greatest works of polyphony which we possess, and which were then coming into existence, became the model for the rest of the world, not only then but for all time. Leo's step was somewhat counteracted by Sixtus V
(1534–49) on 17 November 1545, published a Bull approving a new constitution of the choir, which has been in force ever since, and according to which the choir-master proposes the candidates for membership, who are then examined by the whole company of singers. Since that time the state of life of the candidate has not been a factor.
as well as of its performance. When the Gregorian
melodies were still the sole music of the Church, it was the papal choir that set the standard for the rest of Christendom
, both in regard to the purity of the melodies and their rendition. After these melodies had blossomed into polyphony
, it was in the Sistine Chapel that it received adequate interpretation. Here the artistic degeneration, which church music suffered in different periods in many countries, never took hold for any length of time. The use of instruments, even of the organ, has ever been excluded. The choir's ideal has always been that purely vocal style.
The accession of the Pope Pius X
, arguably the most musical pope since St. Gregory the Great, caused a complete turn-around in the quality of music in the Vatican. Under the directorship of Pius's long-time friend, the legendary composer/conductor Don Lorenzo Perosi, the artistic level of the Sistine Choir was raised to a higher point than it had occupied for the previous thirty or forty years.
Only two months after his coronation in 1903, Pius released his Motu Proprio
(co-written, no doubt, by Pius's great friend Perosi, who had been Maestro di Cappella since 1898 and was now promoted to "Maestro Perpetuo"). Falsetto
voices were succeeded by boys' voices. One of the reasons for this was that Pius was fervently against the practice of human castration
. Thus, he declared that only "whole men" should be allowed to be choristers or priests. Thus ended the castrati's place in Roman Catholic choir lofts and pulpits.
The choir's repertoire consisted heavily of the compositions of Don Perosi himself.
Though Maestro Perosi's title was "Perpetual," meaning that he held it until his death in 1956, he suffered from chronic mental problems resulting in various interregna of his directorship. These problems manifested themselves around the First World War and continued, on and off, till Perosi's death. Naturally the same high musical standards could not be maintained during Don Perosi's absences, regardless of his "title".
. Though Bartolucci retained much of Perosi's music in the choir's repertoire — music which he genuinely respected — Bartolucci was a different musician to Perosi. In particular, his tempos were slow: for this reason he is retained to be one of the most intelligent executor of Palestrina
ever. However his most famous composition, the "Missa de Angelis" is a bright and glorious piece for four voices (SATB), and organ.
Within a decade of Bartolucci's assumption of the directorship, the Second Vatican Council
(1962-5) brought drastic changes to every aspect of the liturgy. Music was certainly no exception. The glory days of Pius X and Don Perosi were now something of the distant past.
In 2010, Massimo Palombella, a Salesian
priest, was appointed to replace Liberto as head of the choir.
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
based in Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
and is one of the oldest religious choirs in the world
World
World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth....
. At present, the choir comprises approximately twenty adult singers (eleven tenors and nine basses) and thirty unpaid boy choristers (sopranos and contraltos).
Middle Ages (c.600-c.1300)
Although it is known that the Church, from her earliest days, employed music, it was not until the time of her emergence from the catacombs that she began freely to display her beauty and splendour in sacred song. As early as in the pontificate of Sylvester IPope Silvester I
Pope Sylvester I was pope from 31 January 314 to 31 December 335, succeeding Pope Miltiades.He filled the See of Rome at a very important era in the history of the Catholic Church, but very little is known of him....
(314-35) we find a regularly constituted company of singers, under the name of schola cantorum, living together in a building devoted to their exclusive use. The word "schola" was in those days the legal designation of an association of equals in any calling or profession and did not primarily denote, as in our time, a school. It had more the nature of a guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
, a characteristic which clung to the papal choir for many centuries.
Hilarius
Pope Hilarius
Pope Saint Hilarius was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 461 to February 28, 468. He was canonized as a saint after his death....
(461-8) ordained that the pontifical singers live in community, while Gregory the Great
Pope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I , better known in English as Gregory the Great, was pope from 3 September 590 until his death...
(590-604) not only made permanent the existing institution attached to St. John Lateran and including at that time in its membership monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s, secular clergy
Secular clergy
The term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or members of a religious order.-Catholic Church:In the Catholic Church, the secular clergy are ministers, such as deacons and priests, who do not belong to a religious order...
, and boys, but established a second and similar one in connection with the Basilica of St. Peter. The latter is supposed to have served as a sort of preparatory school
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
for the former.
For several centuries the papal "schola cantorum" retained the same general character. Its head, archicantor or primicerius, was always a clergyman of high rank and often a bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
. While it was his duty to intone the various chants to be followed by the rest of the singers, he was by no means their master in the modern technical sense.
Rome, Avignon, & Rome again (c. 1300-1471)
During the residency of the popes in AvignonAvignon Papacy
The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven Popes resided in Avignon, in modern-day France. This arose from the conflict between the Papacy and the French crown....
in the thirteenth century, marked changes took place in the institution. Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV , born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 25, 1243 until his death in 1254.-Early life:...
did not take his schola cantorum with him to his new abode, but provided for its continuance in Rome by turning over to it properties, tithes, and other revenues. Community life among the singers seems to have come to an end at this period. Clement V
Pope Clement V
Pope Clement V, born Raymond Bertrand de Got was Pope from 1305 to his death...
(1305–14) formed a new choir at Avignon, consisting for the most part of French singers, who showed a decided preference for the new developments in church music — the "déchant" and "fauxbourdons" ("falsibordoni"), which had in the meantime gained great vogue in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
When Gregory XI
Pope Gregory XI
Gregory XI was pope from 1370 until his death.-Biography:He was born Pierre Roger de Beaufort, in Maumont, in the modern commune of Rosiers-d'Égletons, Limousin around 1336. He succeeded Pope Urban V in 1370, and was pope until 1378...
(1370-8) returned to Rome, he took his singers with him and amalgamated them with the still-existing, at least in name, ancient schola cantorum. Before the sojourn of the papal Court at Avignon, it had been the duty of the schola to accompany the Pope to the church where he held station, but after the return to Rome, the custom established at Avignon of celebrating all pontifical functions in the papal church or chapel was continued and has existed since.
The primicerius of former times is now no longer mentioned but is replaced by the "magister capellae", which title, however, continues to be more an honorary one held by a bishop or prelate than an indication of technical leadership, as may be gathered from the relative positions assigned to various dignitaries, their prerogatives, etc. Thus the "magister capellae" came immediately after the cardinals
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
, followed, in the order given, by the "sacrista", "cantores", "capellani" and "clerici".
Renaissance & the First Golden Age (1471-1545)
With the building by Sixtus IVPope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV , born Francesco della Rovere, was Pope from 1471 to 1484. His accomplishments as Pope included the establishment of the Sistine Chapel; the group of artists that he brought together introduced the Early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpiece of the city's new artistic age,...
(1471–84) of the church for the celebration of all papal functions since known as the Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio...
, the original "schola cantorum" and subsequent "capella pontificia" or "capella papale", which still retains more or less of the guild character, becomes the "capella sistina", or Sistine Choir, whose golden era takes its beginning. Up to this time the number of singers had varied considerably, there being sometimes as few as nine men and six boys. By a Bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
dated November, 1483, Sixtus IV fixed the number at twenty-four, six for each part.
After the year 1441 the records no longer mention the presence of boys in the choir, the high voices, soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
and alto, being thenceforth sung by natural (and occasionally unnatural) soprani falsetti and high tenors respectively. Membership in the papal choir became the great desideratum of singers, contrapuntists, and composers of every land, which accounts for the presence in Rome, at least for a time, of most of the great names of that period.
The desire to re-establish a sort of preparatory school for the papal choir, on the plan of the ancient schola, and incidentally to become independent of the ultramontane, or foreign, singers, led Julius II
Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II , nicknamed "The Fearsome Pope" and "The Warrior Pope" , born Giuliano della Rovere, was Pope from 1503 to 1513...
(1503–13) to issue, on 19 February 1512, a Bull founding the capella Julia, which to this day performs all the choir duties at St. Peter's. It became indeed, and has ever since been, a nursery for, and stepping-stone to, membership in the Sistine Choir. The high artistic aims of its founder have, however, but rarely been attained, owing to the rarity of the truly great choirmasters.
Leo X
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X , born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 Theses...
(1513–21), himself a musician, by choosing as head of the organization a real musician, irrespective of his clerical rank, took a step which was of the greatest importance for the future. It had the effect of transforming a group of vocal virtuosi on equal footing into a compact vocal body, whose interpretation of the greatest works of polyphony which we possess, and which were then coming into existence, became the model for the rest of the world, not only then but for all time. Leo's step was somewhat counteracted by Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V , born Felice Peretti di Montalto, was Pope from 1585 to 1590.-Early life:The chronicler Andrija Zmajević states that Felice's family originated from modern-day Montenegro...
(1534–49) on 17 November 1545, published a Bull approving a new constitution of the choir, which has been in force ever since, and according to which the choir-master proposes the candidates for membership, who are then examined by the whole company of singers. Since that time the state of life of the candidate has not been a factor.
Baroque & Gradual Decline (1545-1898)
While the Sistine Choir has, since its foundation, undergone many vicissitudes, its artistic and moral level fluctuating, like all things human, with the mutations of the times, it has ever had for its purpose and object to hold up, at the seat of ecclesiastical authority, the highest model of liturgical musicLiturgical music
Liturgical music originated as a part of religious ceremony, and includes a number of traditions, both ancient and modern. Liturgical music is well known as a part of Catholic Mass, the Anglican Holy Communion service , the Lutheran Divine Service, the Orthodox liturgy and other Christian services...
as well as of its performance. When the Gregorian
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
melodies were still the sole music of the Church, it was the papal choir that set the standard for the rest of Christendom
Christendom
Christendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity...
, both in regard to the purity of the melodies and their rendition. After these melodies had blossomed into polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
, it was in the Sistine Chapel that it received adequate interpretation. Here the artistic degeneration, which church music suffered in different periods in many countries, never took hold for any length of time. The use of instruments, even of the organ, has ever been excluded. The choir's ideal has always been that purely vocal style.
The Second Golden Age and Decline (1898-1956)
Pope Pius X
Pope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...
, arguably the most musical pope since St. Gregory the Great, caused a complete turn-around in the quality of music in the Vatican. Under the directorship of Pius's long-time friend, the legendary composer/conductor Don Lorenzo Perosi, the artistic level of the Sistine Choir was raised to a higher point than it had occupied for the previous thirty or forty years.
Only two months after his coronation in 1903, Pius released his Motu Proprio
Motu proprio
A motu proprio is a document issued by the Pope on his own initiative and personally signed by him....
(co-written, no doubt, by Pius's great friend Perosi, who had been Maestro di Cappella since 1898 and was now promoted to "Maestro Perpetuo"). Falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
voices were succeeded by boys' voices. One of the reasons for this was that Pius was fervently against the practice of human castration
Castration
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries.-Humans:...
. Thus, he declared that only "whole men" should be allowed to be choristers or priests. Thus ended the castrati's place in Roman Catholic choir lofts and pulpits.
The choir's repertoire consisted heavily of the compositions of Don Perosi himself.
Though Maestro Perosi's title was "Perpetual," meaning that he held it until his death in 1956, he suffered from chronic mental problems resulting in various interregna of his directorship. These problems manifested themselves around the First World War and continued, on and off, till Perosi's death. Naturally the same high musical standards could not be maintained during Don Perosi's absences, regardless of his "title".
Recent History (1956-1997)
Perosi was succeeded by Domenico BartolucciDomenico Bartolucci
Domenico Bartolucci is an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is Director Emeritus of the Sistine Chapel Choir and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and is recognized in the field of music both as a director and a prolific composer...
. Though Bartolucci retained much of Perosi's music in the choir's repertoire — music which he genuinely respected — Bartolucci was a different musician to Perosi. In particular, his tempos were slow: for this reason he is retained to be one of the most intelligent executor of Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition...
ever. However his most famous composition, the "Missa de Angelis" is a bright and glorious piece for four voices (SATB), and organ.
Within a decade of Bartolucci's assumption of the directorship, the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
(1962-5) brought drastic changes to every aspect of the liturgy. Music was certainly no exception. The glory days of Pius X and Don Perosi were now something of the distant past.
The Choir Today
Bartolucci was replaced as director of the choir by Monsignor Giuseppe Liberto in 1997. During his directorship, Liberto spoke candidly about the problems of music in the Catholic Church since Vatican II. "Any kind of guerilla action against Vatican II does not produce good fruits. The council's principles by now are untouchable."In 2010, Massimo Palombella, a Salesian
Salesians of Don Bosco
The Salesians of Don Bosco is a Roman Catholic religious order founded in the late nineteenth century by Saint John Bosco in an attempt, through works of charity, to care for the young and poor children of the industrial revolution...
priest, was appointed to replace Liberto as head of the choir.