Domenico Bartolucci (7 May 1917 – 11 November 2013) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the former director of the Sistine Chapel Choir and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and was recognized in the field of music both as a director and a prolific composer. Considered among the most authoritative interpreters of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Bartolucci led the Sistine Chapel Choir in performances worldwide, and also directed numerous concerts with the Choir of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, including a tour of the former Soviet Union. On 20 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI elevated him to the College of Cardinals. Because Bartolucci was over the age of 80, he was never eligible to participate in any papal conclave. Biography Early career At a very young age, Bartolucci entered the seminary in Florence, where he was recruited as a singer. Upon the death of his master Bagnoli, Bartolucci succeeded him as director of the Chapel of the Duomo of Florence. In those years he began to compose his first masses, motets, and organ music, as well as madrigals and chamber music. At the end of 1942 Bartolucci went to Rome in order to deepen his knowledge of sacred music. Having served as Deputy Master of the St. John Lateran, in 1947 he was appointed Master of the Liberian Choir of St. Mary Major, succeeding Licinio Refice, absent. In 1952, on the advice of Lorenzo Perosi, he was appointed Deputy Master of the Sistine Chapel. Bartolucci and the Sistine Chapel Choir When Perosi died in 1956, Pope Pius XII gave Bartolucci the position of permanent director of the Pontifical Sistine Chapel Choir. In 1997 Bartolucci was replaced at the helm of the Sistine Chapel by Msgr. Giuseppe Liberto, an event which aroused some controversy in the context of liturgical music. Among those most against the decision, motivated by Papal Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Piero Marini, was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who, after he became Pope Benedict XVI, recalled Bartolucci to direct a concert in the Sistine Chapel on 24 June 2006, in which he offered music from the repertoire of sacred polyphony of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina alongside his own compositions including the motet Oremus pro Pontifice Nostro Benedicto ("Let us pray for our Pontiff Benedict"), dedicated to the Pope. The ensemble of the Pontifical Sistine Chapel Choir upon the death of Perosi was in poor condition.