Very Special

Christmas music in Rome
impresses GIUSEPPE PENNISI

This year the Christmas period in Rome coincides with the beginning of the 'Jubilee of Mercy', an extraordinary Jubilee called for by Pope Francis to reflect, among other things, on inequalities among nations and people. Thus, the musical programs provide a special emphasis on these aspects. There are concerts in almost every church. Some make strange programming choices: eg the most important Anglican church in Rome (St Paul Within-the-Walls) started its Christmas music program with Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (Hitler's composer in residence), forgetting that it had been written for a Nazi youth meeting in Frankfurt and that its medieval text is an anthem to drinking and fornication...