Views from the Choir Loft

Choir of Sainte Marie • “THE GREAT WEEK”

Corpus Christi Watershed · March 14, 2005

You are also responsible for learning
the PALESTRINA ALLELUIA:
26561 • “Alleluia for SATB” • PDF Score (Singer)

EQUAL VOICES : YouTube
SOPRANO : YouTube
ALTO : YouTube
TENOR : YouTube
BASS : YouTube

Music list: Palm Sunday
Music list: Holy Thursday
Music List: Good Friday
Music List: Easter Sunday
Reminder: the “feasts website” is https://www.ccwatershed.org/feasts/

Holy Thursday:
call time for men & women = 6:15pm

Women must learn the fantastic Introit for Holy Thursday:
ENTRANCE CHANT SCORE • rehearsal video

Innsbruck Tune:
Men and women must learn:
O Esca Viatorum (“O Food the pilgrim needeth”)
Learn the SATB parts by using the score below.
The one marked “Innsbruck.”

Good Friday:
call time for men = 2:15pm
call time for women = 3:00pm (When the ceremony itself begins)

Men must learn:
Musical Score • rehearsal video

Innsbruck Tune # 334:
Men and women must learn:
Crux Fidelis (a.k.a. “Pange Lingua Gloriosi”)

Holy Saturday:
The full choir has no responsibilities for the Easter Vigil.
Rehearsal at the choir director’s home in Muskegon 10:30am, and “potluck” afterwards.
495 S. Getty St
Muskegon, MI 49442

Easter Sunday:
Call time = 9:00am

Full choir is responsible for learning the Easter Sunday Sequence.
The singers’ score is on page 3 of that PDF file.
You should listen to this rehearsal video.

You are also responsible for learning
the PALESTRINA ALLELUIA:
26561 • “Alleluia for SATB” • PDF Score (Singer)

EQUAL VOICES : YouTube
SOPRANO : YouTube
ALTO : YouTube
TENOR : YouTube
BASS : YouTube

You are also responsible for learning GLORIA iii:

* PDF Download • VOCALIST SCORE

Here’s the direct URL link.

Mp3 version of Gloria iii

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

New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”

My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 12 October 2025) talks about an ‘irony’ or ‘paradox’ regarding the 1960s switch to a wider use (amplior locus) of vernacular in the liturgy.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Reminder” — Month of October (2025)

Those who don’t sign up for our free EMAIL NEWSLETTER miss important notifications. Last week, for example, I sent a message about this job opening for a music director paying $65,000 per year plus benefits (plus weddings & funerals). Notice the job description says: “our vision for sacred music is to move from singing at Mass to truly singing the Mass wherein … especially the propers, ordinaries, and dialogues are given their proper place.” Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • 27th in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 5 October 2025, which is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the spectacular feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin. Readers will want to check out the ENTRANCE CHANT posted there, which has a haunting melody (in the DEUTERUS MODE) and extremely powerful text.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)

The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams

Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Did they simplify these hymn harmonies?

Choirs love to sing the famous & splendid tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1952, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. In other words, their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1952 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. I really like the groovy Germanic INTRODUCTION they added.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“No living writer possesses a greater command over the English language than Msgr. Knox, but in this instance one cannot help feeling that he has allowed his virtuosity to get the better of him, and, in his anxiety to shield the holy of holies from vulgar intrusion, produced a text that would either pass over the listener’s head as completely as the original Latin, or else leave him groping so long after the meaning that he would be quite unable to keep pace with the officiating priest.”

— Dr. Herbert Patrick Reginald Finberg (University of Leicester)