Dear Brother Superior General, Brothers Capitulants and Partners Consultants:

It is a great honour for me to be here today, at a time so significant for your Institute as it conducts its 43rd General Chapter, in order to present the book Omaggio di Charles Gounod a Jean-Baptiste de La Salle - Tribute of Charles Gounod to John Baptist de La Salle (published by the Blutime Cultural Association of Collegio San Giuseppe), written on the occasion of the centenary of the canonisation of Founder.

The idea of undertaking this work arose from the directive I received to analyse the Quatrième Messe Solennelle Chorale, dedicated to the Venerable John Baptist de La Salle by the French musician Charles Gounod at the end of the nineteenth century, on the occasion of the Founder's Beatification and performed in Rheims Cathedral on the 24th of June 1888. In fact, the first portrait of the musician, reproduced at the beginning of the volume, bears the manuscript dedication: Rheims, 24th June 1888.

Having become interested in the subject, I wished to further deepen the study. My research led to the finding of a Te Deum, preserved not in Italy but in the National Library in Paris, composed and performed for the first time, under the direction of Gounod himself, again on the 24th of June 1888 at Rheims. In addition, there has been found in the Institute archives the Cantata Beatus qui intelligit super egenum et pauperem, with words from Psalm 40, composed for the inauguration of the monument erected at Rouen, thanks to a world-wide subscription, on 2nd June 1875 in honour of the Venerable de La Salle. This monument was erected three years after the Institute in France had received from the city of Boston the Prix de Vertu, for the spirit of sacrifice of the Brothers and their assistance given on the battle-field in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71. During the festivities, this episode was also mentioned in numerous speeches by civil and military authorities present at Rouen.

The analysis of the composition of these three musical pieces was one of the main tasks I set myself in this book. Gounod was, in his sacred music, attracted by the rigorous style of the Renaissance polyphony of Palestrina, and by the modal rigour of Gregorian plain chant, which he learnt in the Sistine Chapel during his stay in Rome at the Villa Medici in 1839, as recipient of the Grand Prix de Rome. In his musical compositions he combines strict musical lines, in conformity with the canons of Catholic liturgy, with harmonic forms that are more chromatic and secular.

At the same time, my research focussed on the order of the ceremonies during which these musical compositions were performed for the first time under the direction of Gounod, as also on the life of the composer, and of the Saint of the Grand Siècle, as seen through critical studies and letters. These were found for me thanks to the efficient work of Br René Galière, Director of the Generalate Library, and of Br André Rocher, Director of the Generalate Archives. I thank these with all my heart.

I thank you all for your attention and I offer my best wishes for the continuation of your work.

P.S. Before handing over the microphone to my mother, an Affiliated Member of the Institute, who worked with me on the book, I would like to say that if anyone wishes to consult these three compositions, they are available to you in the Institute Archives.