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Views from the Choir Loft

A Tale Of Two Monsignori: Schmitt & Vyverman

Jeff Ostrowski · April 22, 2013

EADERS KNOW very well my admiration for Flor Peeters and his associates at the Lemmens Institute, so I need not repeat that at this time. However, I need to remind readers the Lemmens Institute is located in a place called “Mechelen” in Belgium. It turns out “Mechelen” can also be written as “Mechlin” and “Malines,” depending on which language a person is using at the moment. In the article below, I notice that Msgr. Schmitt (who liked to be called “Father Schmitt”) spells the region as “Malignes.” Fr. Schmitt was a notoriously bad editor when it comes to spelling and proofreading (and he often made fun of his abilities in these areas). I’m not sure whether “Malignes” is technically a correct variant spelling or simply an error on his part. Very soon, this Blog will allow comments. If we had comments enabled right now, I’m sure some Dutch-speaker could tell me whether it was a typo. In any event, I thought it would be fun to use “Malign” in the subtitle (hence: Did Schmitt malign Vyverman of Malines?).

Here’s the article I spoke of by Fr. Schmitt:

      * *  7521 • Article by Msgr. Frank Schmitt (Winter, 1962) [pdf]

As alluded to above, Msgr. Jules Vyverman was an associate of Flor Peeters at the Lemmens Institute. Vyverman contributed to the Nova Organi Harmonia, along with Msgr. Jules Van Nuffel, Marinus de Jong, Gustaaf Nees, Henri Durieux, and Edgard de Laet. A picture of Vyverman is in the upper right corner.

In Schmitt’s article, he mentions a chant method by Msgr. Vyverman. I’ve never seen it. I sure would like to obtain it someday.

As I was reading, I saw that Schmitt spelled Joseph Gogniat as Joseph Cogniat. I thought to myself, “Ouch, there’s a typo.” Reading more, I saw that Schmitt spelled Gogniat as Cogniat a second time. That would seem to indicate he truly forgot Gogniat’s name, which is really odd considering Schmitt’s admiration for Dr. Peter Wagner and his student (Gogniat).

P.S.

Don’t be to bothered by Schmitt’s attacks on the Solesmes ictus. This is a constant theme (obsession?) with him. It would have been better for Schmitt to have simply said, “I don’t like the ictus. I don’t find it helpful to make my choirs sing beautifully.” Instead, he chose to write volume after volume about the ictus. In the end, it made very little difference. Schmitt pushed for Rembert Weakland to be CMAA President. (Weakland is a disgraced Catholic bishop who did tremendous harm to the Catholic Church). Schmitt thought having a bishop as President would make the Conference of Catholic Bishops listen to the CMAA. It totally backfired. Weakland ended up pushing for the “hootenanny Mass” and I think he only lasted one year as CMAA President.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Monsignor Francis P Schmitt 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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The Church has always kept, and wishes still to maintain everywhere, the language of her Liturgy; and, before the sad and violent changes of the 16th century, this eloquent and effective symbol of unity of faith and communion of the faithful was, as you know, cherished in England not less than elsewhere. But this has never been regarded by the Holy See as incompatible with the use of popular hymns in the language of each country.”

— Pope Leo XIII (1898)

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