It would be a feat on the order of Hercules to find the man who is not rendered mute at sight of the Duomo in Siena. It goes without saying that the imposing Tuscan gothic façade, Pisano’s pulpit, the intricate inlaid floor, the soaring, dizzying striped columns are all magnificent. Indeed, it is impossible to sum up in words the entirety of the thing. Put simply, everything about the duomo suggests something of celestial, supernatural importance…everything, that is, save the music.
Upon entering such a seraphic sanctuary, one might expect to hear seraphic sounds and indeed he does during those hours when the duomo functions more as a museum than a house of prayer. Throngs of tourists, tickets in hand, are quite enchanted by the experience of the duomo, set appropriately to the music of monks wafting up as if from some secret, holy place. Only a few notice the PA system, and fewer still identify the masterful 1959 recording of the Benedictines at Clervaux.
If only the experience at Holy Mass were so sublime! Far from enraptured in heavenly tones, one is left bewildered as his ears are acoustically accosted by the sound of guitars and folk hymns. To hear Mass in the duomo is a study in incongruity. The duomo, in all of its monumental and lofty intricacy, begs to be filled with the solemn sounds of Gregorian chant or soaring polyphony, music for which this temple was built. Yet, the visitor and devotee alike are perplexed, dare I say incensed, to hear vapid modernist hymns that rise not to the occasion but rather turn it into an exercise in the virtue of patience.
Looking about for something to distract (an act of desperation to be sure!), one immediately becomes aware of 172 pontiffs staring down at the whole scene, some dumbfounded, others ready to excommunicate the choirmaster. One sees Leo VI roll his eyes as Boniface III struggles to contain his laughter. If one is to retain his sanity, he is all but forced to find the humor in the glaring inconsistency that is before him. It is said that he who sings prays twice, though Augustine might recant were he to make it through the first verse of the opening hymn!
Is not the duomo more dignified than all of this? In the land of Palestrina is it too much to ask for even a selection from the Missa Papae Marcelli? It is not unreasonable to think that more seats at Mass would be occupied if the program of music were revised, if not for the sake of harmony with the architecture then for the sake of that divine action for which the grand edifice was built.
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