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.

Music List • (4th Sunday of Lent)

Readers have expressed interest in seeing the ORDER OF MUSIC I created for this coming Sunday, which is the 4th Sunday of Lent (15 March 2026). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. This feast has sublime propers. It is most often referred to as “Lætare Sunday” owing to its INTROIT. I encourage all the readers to visit the feasts website, where the Propria Missae may be downloaded completely free of charge.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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

“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