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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Intensely Powerful • “Requiem” Production (FSSP)

Jeff Ostrowski · April 7, 2017

By way of the FSSP blog in North America, we received this electrifying news:


From the press release:

Fr. Gerard Saguto, North American FSSP Superior, who also sang on REQUIEM, explains that the daily responsibilities of the priests entail shepherding its flock’s greatest joys and its deepest sorrows: from a marriage in the morning to a funeral in the afternoon. Saint Augustine’s sense of the sacred was a beauty “ever ancient, ever new.” This beautiful work—ancient, yet made anew whenever he and his confreres sing it—serves as a message of hope.

Click this image for all the details:


Excellent polyphonic works by Palestrina and Giovanni Battista Martini (one of Mozart’s teachers) are included along with traditional plainsong:

1. Antiphon Exsultábunt Dómino with Psalm 50
2. Tolling of the Bell
3. Responsory Subveníte Sancti Dei
4. Introit Réquiem ætérnam
5. Kýrie eléison
6. Gradual Réquiem ætérnam
7. Tract Absólve Dómine
8. Sequence Dies iræ
9. Offertory Dómine, Jesu Christe
10. Sanctus
11. Agnus Dei
12. Communion antiphon Lux ætérna
13. Responsory Líbera me
14. Antiphon In paradísum
15. Antiphon Ego sum with the Canticle of Zachary
16. Responsory Qui Lázarum
17. Responsory Dómine quando véneris
18. Responsory Peccántem me
19. Pie Jesu Dómine
20. Réquiem ætérnam

The program notes (SEE ABOVE) say that Fr. Zachary Akers currently serves as music director for the Fraternity in North America, which I did not realize. I’m proud to say he is an old friend of my brother, Mark. Fr. Akers visited our community in October, as these photographs show.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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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

    PDF Download • Communion (4th Snd. Lent)
    The COMMUNION ANTIPHON for this coming Sunday, which is the Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year A), is particularly beautiful. There’s something irresistible about this tone; it’s neither happy nor sad. As always, I encourage readers to visit the flourishing feasts website, where the complete Propria Missae may be downloaded free of charge.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Good Friday Flowers
    Good Friday has a series of prayers for various parties: the pope, catechumens, pagans, heretics, schismatics, and so forth. In the old liturgical books, there was no official ‘name’ for these prayers. (This wasn’t unusual as ‘headers’ and ‘titles’ for each section is a rather modern idea.) The Missal simply instructed the priest to go to the Epistle side and begin. In the SHERBORNE MISSAL, each prayer begins with a different—utterly spectacular—flower. This PDF file shows the first few prayers. Has anyone counted the ‘initial’ drop-cap flowers in the SHERBORNE MISSAL? Surely there are more than 1,000.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music List • (3rd Sunday of Lent)
    Readers have expressed interest in seeing the ORDER OF MUSIC I created for this coming Sunday, which is the 3rd Sunday of Lent (8 March 2026). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. This feast has magnificent propers. Its stern INTROIT (“Óculi mei semper ad Dóminum”) is breathtaking, and the COMMUNION (“Qui bíberit aquam”) with its fauxbourdon verses is wonderful. I encourage all the readers to visit the feasts website, where the Propria Missae may be downloaded completely free of charge.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Dies Irae” • A Monstrous Translation
    It isn’t easy to determine what Alice King MacGilton hoped to accomplish with her very popular book—A Study of Latin Hymns (1918)—which continued to be reprinted in new editions for at least 34 years. This PDF file shows her attempt to translate the DIES IRAE “in the fewest words possible.” There’s a place for dynamic equivalency, but this is repugnant. In particular, look what she does to “Quærens me sedísti lassus.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF Download • “Holy, Holy, Holy”
    For vigil Masses on Saturday (a.k.a. “anticipated” Masses) we use this simpler setting of the “Holy, Holy, Holy” by Monsignor Jules Vyverman (d. 1989), a Belgian priest, organist, composer, and music educator who ultimately succeeded another ‘Jules’ (CANON JULES VAN NUFFEL) as director of the Lemmensinstituut in Belgium. Although I could be wrong, my understanding is that the LEMMENSINSTITUUT eventually merged with “Catholic University of Leuven” (originally founded in 1425). That’s the university Fulton J. Sheen attended.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Grotesque Pairing • “Passion Chorale”
    One of our rarest releases was undoubtably this PDF scan of the complete Pope Pius XII Hymnal (1959) by Father Joseph Roff, a student of Healey Willan. One of the scarcest titles in existence, this book was provided to us by Mr. Peter Meggison. Back in 2018, we scanned each page and uploaded it to our website, making it freely available to everyone. Readers are probably sick of hearing me say this, but just because we upload something that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wonderful or worthy of imitation. We upload many publications precisely because they are ‘grotesque’, interesting, or revealing. Whereas the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal had an editorial board that was careful and sensitive vis-à-vis pairing texts with tunes, the Pope Pius XII Hymnal (1959) seems to have been rather reckless in this regard. Please take a look at what they did with the PASSION CHORALE and see whether you agree.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“By no means would I offer the counsel that Mass be celebrated in languages other than Latin.”

— Archbishop Dwyer (one of the Vatican II fathers)

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