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Views from the Choir Loft

A Culture Obsessed With Sensationalism

Jeff Ostrowski · October 28, 2013

The one who tells the story can matter more than the story itself. Suppose I wrote the following:

ITH SWEAT on my brow, I began the final piece on my jury program: a Concerto by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Approaching the recapitulation, I saw one judge raise a hand, saying simply: “Enough.” I stopped playing and knew my career was over.

Pretty dramatic, huh? And every word is true … but there’s one problem: it’s false. But if it’s false, how can every word be true? The author (in this case, myself) is guilty of sensationalism. For example, it’s true they stopped me before the Recap … but they always stop students before the Recap. (In a Classical Concerto, the Recap is the same basic music, transposed to a different key.) It’s true my “career” was over, but that’s because I’d made a decision to switch majors, so this was my last piano jury. And, yes, I was sweating like crazy, mainly because (Uh oh!) I hadn’t memorized the Recap of the Beethoven, since the judges normally stop you before the Recap. Still, just knowing they might ask for the Recap made me nervous. If they did, I was in big trouble.

SENSATIONALISM IS THE SCOURGE of our age. Just look at the reporting on Pope Francis, which has been inaccurate to the point of absurdity. The unqualified journalists who try to “make sense” of what’s happening are totally clueless about even the most basic facts. I’ve been taking a lot of screenshots of the nonsense so I’ll have a record of it forever.

I recently came across an article where Damian Thompson relates an event the same way the piccoluomini might. That is, his account is silly and uninformed to the point of absurdity. A famous concert pianist, Stephen Hough, tears apart the account here. Hough does a good job, so I won’t repeat everything he says. To make a long story short, it’s bizarre that both conductor and pianist were too lazy to discuss things like tempi beforehand, and it was not a “miracle” that Maria João Pires could play a piece she’d performed every year for the past eight years.

If you want to read about a real “miracle” of pianism, read this:

      * *  Story about the Pianist Ignaz Friedman • Story by conductor Georg Schneevoigt

Notice the story is told by a witness who was himself a professional musician. There are similar stories about Hofmann, Gieseking, Rachmaninov, Horowitz, Gould, and many other great pianists. These are real pianistic “miracles,” not the nonsense related by Damian Thompson. [Please notice I am not saying Mr. Thompson is a bad person; but in this particular case, he got it wrong.]

SPEAKING OF SENSATIONALISTIC NONSENSE, the other day I mentioned The Monk’s Tale, which is a biography of Godfrey Diekmann. Perhaps I shouldn’t call it a biography; it’s more of a “hagiography.” Even though it’s written by a Catholic sister, I couldn’t find anything in the book which condemns or criticizes Diekmann’s troubling beliefs, such as his support for women’s ordination to the priesthood or his fanatical promotion of the “hootenanny Mass.” Reading The Monk’s Tale, one also gets the impression that the 1970s ICEL translation (with which Diekmann was quite involved) was the greatest, most wonderful thing of all time. However, folks like Godfrey Diekmann never anticipated the internet, which allows honest Catholics to see for themselves the truth. After all, in the 1970s, the official Latin texts were incredibly expensive and hard to come by, so many Catholics had no idea how inaccurate that first translation was.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Ignacy Friedman Pianist, Ignaz Friedman, Pope Francis Last Updated: January 12, 2021

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“Much of the reordering [in 1970] of the pieces of the Roman Gradual seems arbitrary and useless; nevertheless, with some exceptions, it does not affect the shape of the service, since like pieces are exchanged for like.”

— Dr. William Peter Mahrt

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