ODAY, I am going to make news. For months, I have been assisting in proofreading the Choral Supplement to the Brébeuf Hymnal. Folks, a choirmaster’s life will never be the same once this book is released. It’s about 1,100 pages, and totally magnificent: unlike anything I’ve ever seen. We all know Catholic music is a mess right now, but this publication—in my humble opinion—will go a long way towards fixing things!

What Is The Purpose?

Put simply, the Choral Supplement provides SATB settings for the hymns in the Brébeuf Pew edition. For many reasons, we encourage choirmasters to emphasize “German style” in parishes: Unison + Organ. But there can be certain moments when SATB singing is desired, and that’s why this book was created. ¹

Here is a sample score:

    * *  PDF Download • EARLY RELEASE SAMPLE (Choral Supplement)

My choirs love to sing “Sancti Venite” from the Brébeuf Hymnal. We usually sing Unison + Organ, alternating between ladies and men—and it works extremely well. But the 9:00am choir really wanted to try SATB. A member of the Tenor section sent me an iPhone recording:

When you listen, please remember that this choir is 100% volunteers, and very few members read music. The more we sing it, the better it will get.

You can rehearse each individual part at the Brébeuf website. I wish more people would go explore the rehearsal videos; but nobody ever does. I’m not sure why this is…they are so much fun!  Anyhow, the JP2 Institute has requested that no more rehearsal videos be posted until the Choral Supplement has been released—so be prepared for a whole bunch more videos soon!

When Is The Release Date?

The Choral Supplement is expected to be released on 8 December 2019, a date which had special meaning for Saint Jean de Brébeuf and his companions. One reason it took so long is the beautiful formatting. Do you see the difference between “standard” formatting by a program such as Sibelius?

This book is a supplement.

In other words, the Choral Supplement only makes sense used in conjunction with the Pew Edition. All the literal translations, color pages, footnotes, etc. are found in the Pew Edition.

NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   To say nothing of descants, alternatim between genders, organ interludes, and so on.