Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download: “67 Hymns” Arranged & Translated by Rev. Adrian Fortescue (1913)

Jeff Ostrowski · March 2, 2015

T WOULD BE extremely difficult to find a more powerful book than the one below. Numbering 167 pages, it was titled by Fr. Adrian Fortescue as: “Latin Hymns sung at the Church of Saint Hugh in Letchworth.”

* * HYMNS • Arranged/Translated by Fortescue (1913)

Fortescue’s book was produced with great care. I have some experience here, since I was a consultant for the Jogues Illuminated Missal. (You can view samples of our typesetting by going here and scrolling to the bottom.) Moreover, Fortescue adds fantastic notes about the writers; notes which are extremely succinct yet valuable. And the translations by Fortescue are truly splendid. I cannot help but think of this hymn collection as his life’s great masterpiece.

Compline is included. These sixty-seven hymns represent the basis of Catholic hymnody. Among them: O Lux Beata Trinitas (St. Ambrose); Luminis Fons (Alcuin of York); Te Decet Laus (Apostolic Constitutions); Corde Natus Ex Parentis (Prudentius); Alma Redemptoris Mater (Herimann the Lame); Vexilla Regis (Venantius Fortunatus); and so many more.

An excerpt from the Introduction by Fortescue:

E HAVE ALSO a number of beautiful hymns about the Blessed Sacrament, our Lady, the Church, and so on. But if people do not understand what is sung, to them all this is lost. To find each hymn and antiphon you would need quite a large collection of books. So I have gathered together all the hymns and chants which we usually sing, with a double purpose. First, that anyone who knows the tune may join the singers; secondly, that those who do not sing may be able to follow, to know what is being sung. Every text has an English translation on the opposite page. If anyone does not understand Latin, he can use the translation as his own prayer and so join in intention with those who sing.

Here’s a photograph of Fr. Adrian Fortescue circa 1922.

Title of of Book: Father Adrian Fortescue’s 1913 “Hymnal for Saint Hugh”

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

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).

Which Mass?

In 1905, when the Vatican Commission on Gregorian Chant began publishing the EDITIO VATICANA—still the Church’s official edition— they assigned different Masses to different types of feasts. However, they were careful to add a note (which began with the words “Qualislibet cantus hujus Ordinarii…”) making clear “chants from one Mass may be used together with those from others.” Sadly, I sometimes worked for TLM priests who weren’t fluent in Latin. As a result, they stubbornly insisted Mass settings were ‘assigned’ to different feasts and seasons (which is false). To understand the great variety, one should examine the 1904 KYRIALE of Dr. Peter Wagner. One should also look through Dom Mocquereau’s Liber Usualis (1904), in which the Masses are all mixed up. For instance, Gloria II in his book ended up being moved to the ‘ad libitum’ appendix in the EDITIO VATICANA.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Like! Like! Like!

You won’t believe who recently gave us a “like” on the Corpus Christi Watershed FACEBOOK PAGE. Click here (PDF) to see who it was. We were not only sincerely honored, we were utterly flabbergasted. This was truly a resounding endorsement and unmistakable stamp of approval.

—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF Download • “Atténde Dómine”

Although it isn’t nearly as ancient as other hymns in the plainsong repertoire, Atténde Dómine, et miserére, quía peccávimus tíbi (“Look down, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against Thee”) has become one of the most popular hymns for LENT—perhaps because it was included in the famous Liber Usualis of Solesmes. This musical score (PDF file) has an incredibly accurate version in English, as well as a nice version in Spanish, and also the original Latin. Although I don’t claim to have a great singing voice, this morning I recorded this rehearsal video.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Extreme Unction

Those who search Google for “CCCC MS 079” will discover high resolution images of a medieval Pontificale (“Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 079”). One of the pages contains this absolutely gorgeous depiction of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

PDF Chart • “Plainsong Rhythm”

I will go to my grave without understanding the lack of curiosity so many people have about the rhythmic modifications made by Dom André Mocquereau. For example, how can someone examine this single sheet comparison chart and at a minimum not be curious about the differences? Dom Mocquereau basically creates a LONG-SHORT LONG-SHORT rhythmic pattern—in spite of enormous and overwhelming manuscript evidence to the contrary. That’s why some scholars referred to his method as “Neo-Mensuralist” or “Neo-Mensuralism.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF • “O Come All Ye Faithful” (Simplified)

I admire the harmonization of “Adeste Fideles” by David Willcocks (d. 2015), who served as director of the Royal College of Music (London, England). In 2025, I was challenged to create a simplified arrangement for organists incapable of playing the authentic version at tempo. The result was this simplified keyboard arrangement (PDF download) based on the David Willcocks version of “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Feel free to play through it and let me know what you think.

—Jeff Ostrowski