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As a violinist, I was interested to learn that Irish violinist Patricia Treacy performed at President Biden’s inaugural mass held at 7:30 AM on Inauguration Day at a Washington cathedral. For the occasion, Ms. Treacy performed on a Stradivari violin worth around $4 million.
This Stradivari wasn’t made by the famous 17th century Cremonese luthier Antonio Stradivari whose instruments have become the gold standard for violin makers ever since. Instead, the violin Ms. Treacy played was made by Antonio’s son, Omobono Stradivari.
Omobono likely was primarily assigned repair work in Antonio’s shop. Compared to Antonio, few surviving violins are attributed to Omobono, and those are considered “clumsy” compared to his father’s work. And there is speculation that Omobono’s business interests primarily laid outside violin making.
World
January 21, 2021
World leaders said they were looking forward to Wednesday’s transfer of power in the United States, where Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as president after four turbulent years under Donald Trump.
Top EU officials voiced relief that they would soon have a friend in the White House again. Let’s build a new founding pact for a stronger Europe, for a stronger America and for a better world, said Charles Michel, president of the European Council. This time-honoured ceremony on the steps of the US Capitol will be a demonstration of the resilience of American democracy, added European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. And the resounding proof that, once again, after four long years, Europe has a friend in the White House.
US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his Irish Catholic roots with an early-morning Mass on his inauguration day.
Irish concert violinist Patricia Treacy played Ag Críost an Síol, the music for which was composed by Seán Ó Riada, during the Mass attended by President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and their family.
While the words for Ag Críost An Síol (To Christ the Seed) were written by a Clare poet/priest Mícheál Ó Míocháin in the 18th century,, the poem was set to music by Seán Ó Riada when he lived in Cúil Aodha in 1964/5.
English By Natalie Liu Share on Facebook Print this page WASHINGTON - Despite the health and security concerns that kept the usual large crowds away from this week’s swearing-in of a new American president, one Washington community was well represented at the solemn ceremony on the steps of the U.S. Capitol – the diplomatic corps.
For many of them, the ceremony was a moving reaffirmation of the strength and durability of American democracy just 14 days after an insurrection that had shaken both the nation and its allies around the world.
“There are 190 ambassadors in Washington, I would say there were at least 180 ambassadors there,” Daniel Mulhall, Ireland’s ambassador in the United States, told VOA in a phone interview. “I can’t imagine anybody [who’s invited] not being there, except somebody being sick or something.”
President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, attend Mass with their families before the presidential inauguration at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2021. (CNS/Reuters/Tom Brenner)
Editor s note: The Jan. 20 Mass in Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day morning was closed to the public, but the pastoral associate for liturgy and director of music ministries at the St. Matthew s Cathedral, who helped plan the liturgy, shares here the music, readings and prayer selections. Others involved in the planning of the liturgy included the presider, Jesuit Fr. Kevin O Brien; the rector, Msgr. Ronald Jameson; the parochial vicar, Fr. John Benson; and members of the Biden-Harris inauguration committee.