Thinking of L'Aquila and Palestrina on Good Friday

Whether one is a believer, an agnostic or an atheist, the story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Golgotha is one of the great dramas in the history of humanity. Today, Good Friday, Christians all over the world recall the crucifixion and think about life, death, love and suffering. The suffering, for example, of those in the medieval town of L'Aquila, which was devastated by an earthquake on Monday morning.

L'Aquila is 95 kilometres north-east of Rome. The town of Palestrina is nearer the Italian capital — 39 kilometres away, to be exact — and it was there in 1525 that the composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was born. Here, Peter Phillips directs The Tallis Scholars as they sing Palestrina's Nunc dimittis in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where the composer was a choirboy and later became the maestro di cappella. Again, whether one is a believer, an agnostic or an atheist, this place and this music are important parts of our heritage and it's worth noting that they would not have been possible without the drama of Good Friday.