ABSTRACT
As pope, Leo moved quickly to augment the musical element of the papal majesty. During his reign, the papal choir expanded to its greatest number ever, eventually reaching about thirty-one members; he supplemented this with a corps of private singers and instrumentalists whose numbers were approaching twenty by the end of his reign. As important to Leo, as his master of ceremonies Paris de Grassis tells us, was the demonstration of the papal majesty, its primary locus the Sistine Chapel with its newly-painted ceiling, its tapestries, and the glittering assembly of the entire papal court during the celebration of the mass. It was, of course, that music played its most conspicuous role, the papal choir singing the various musical items of the mass in chant and polyphony. The first commission was apparently for the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which formed part of the ceremonies of Holy Week in the three days before Easter Sunday known as the triduum sacrum.
