ROME -- It's a new Da Vinci code, but this time it could be for
real. An Italian musician and computer technician claims to have
uncovered musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last
Supper," raising the possibility that the Renaissance genius
might have left behind a somber composition to accompany the
scene depicted in the 15th-century wall painting. "It sounds
like a requiem," Giovanni Maria Pala said. "It's like a
soundtrack that emphasizes the passion of Jesus." Painted from
1494 to 1498 in Milan's Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the
"Last Supper" vividly depicts a key moment in the Gospel
narrative: Jesus' last meal with the 12 Apostles before his
arrest and crucifixion, and the shock of Christ's followers as
they learn that one of them is about to betray him. Pala, a
45-year-old musician who lives near the southern Italian city of
Lecce, began studying Leonardo's painting in 2003, after hearing
on a news program that researchers believed the artist and
inventor had hidden a musical compositi