Views from the Choir Loft

Christmas at Christ the King (late!)

Corpus Christi Watershed · February 4, 2013

EO LABRECQUE sent us an E-mail on 29 December 2012 letting us know about a beautiful blog on the Catholic Champion. Due to the volume of mail we receive, it is not always easy to get to things in a timely manner, but this blog seemed to good to pass up, even though it is no longer Christmastide.

By visiting this website [url], you can view splendid pictures of the candlelit Christmas Mass in Sarasota, Florida. We hope our readers will continue to send us notification of events that we can help to make known to a wider audience.

To learn more, you may want to visit their website [url].

The photographer says: We had another wonderful candle lit Christmas Mass this year at Christ the King in Sarasota, Florida. I went up front to the left of the altar to take some pictures and I was enraptured. I never went back to my pew. I just knelt on the floor, prayed and took pictures the entire Mass. Here are a few of them. Thanks again to Father Fryar for giving us such a memorable Christmas Mass.

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

“Tonus Solemnior” • How old is it?

In the 1962 Missal, a section called “præfationes in tono solemniore” contains ornate melodies for the Preface. An article posted on the blog of the Church Music Association of America claims the tone comes from “the late 19th century” and said its elimination “is one of the very few good things which the post-Conciliar reform did for Gregorian chant.” The author said: “The Roman solemn preface tone is already beautiful enough, there was no need to give a more Romantic feel.”

Some have asked us whether the tonus solemnior comes from “the late 19th century.” It does not. Their author was wrong by at least 400 years. I have seen this tone in MSS from the 1400s—and it may go back even further. Here is an example from 1494AD. And here’s another from the 1400s. The FSSP priests use these tones on high feasts, and the effect is unforgettable.

—Jeff Ostrowski

6 January 2022 • Quick!

A short version of the INTROIT for the feast of the Epiphany has been added to the Saint René Goupil Gregorian Chant Website.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Confusing Feasts of Christmas

Whether one considers the Missale Vetustum or the post-conciliar calendar—or even the 1908 calendar—the feasts which follow Christmas are very confusing. Last year I created this comparison chart. I hope you find it helpful. As far as I can tell, my chart is the first effort to carefully detail the changes made to post-Christmas feasts (unless we also count the rather basic one by Lauren Pristas).

—Jeff Ostrowski