The situation was restored, however, thanks to the commitment of Bartolucci and personal interest of Pope John XXIII. In the forty years of Bartolucci's leadership, the choir balanced the obligation of papal liturgies with tours in various countries throughout the world, including Austria, France, Belgium, the Philippines, Australia, the United States, Turkey, Poland and Japan. In the years of the Second Vatican Council Bartolucci, against abandoning Latin, committed himself that the liturgical reform should not take a direction hostile to sacred music. Activity as a composer Bartolucci was also dedicated to teaching and composition. He was a child prodigy, having composed his first Mass at age 12; his best known Mass is the "Misa Jubilei," written in the Holy Year 1950. The body of his work already published fills more than forty volumes and includes Masses, motets, madrigals, hymns, symphonic, organ, and chamber music, and above all a series of oratorios for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. His three-act opera Brunelleschi is yet to be performed. The concept of music for Bartolucci is based on naturalness and spontaneity. His reference points are Gregorian chant, Palestrina, and Verdi. Characteristic of Bartolucci's aesthetic conception is a respect for tradition, whose base lies in "a considerable severity of song and a certain limpid and solid polyphony", as he describes in the preface to his First Book of Motets. Creation as cardinal On 20 October 2010, Pope Benedict XVI announced Monsignor Bartolucci's appointment to the College of Cardinals in the consistory scheduled for 20 November, recognising him for his service to the Church in the area of sacred ecclesiastical Catholic Church music (music used in the Catholic Church's principal liturgical celebrations, especially the Eucharist – the Mass, liturgical processions, rites such as marriages and funerals, and Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction). He was created Cardinal-Deacon of Santissimi Nomi di Gesù e Maria in Via Lata, usually referred to as Gesù e Maria. At his elevation, Bartolucci became the fourth-oldest member of the college. Because he was over the age of 80, under the terms of Pope Paul VI's 1970 motu proprio Ingravescentem aetatem, he was never eligible to vote in any future Papal conclave. Bartolucci was excused from the requirement that a cardinal be or become a bishop. Death Bartolucci died on 11 November 2013, at the age of 96. His funeral Mass took place at St. Peter's Basilica on 13 November, and was led by