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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Details About Sung Masses In “The Old Days”

Jeff Ostrowski · October 24, 2013

AREFULLY STUDYING old books, one can learn a lot. Sometimes, knowledge can be gained “directly.” For example, a while back I shared an article published in 1937 by Dom Gregory Hügle, O.S.B., perhaps the most prominent expert on Liturgy and Gregorian chant in America (at that time). The article explicitly says that selections from the Proprium Missæ and Ordinarium Missæ can be sung during Low Mass, which is something I did not know.

On the other hand, one can also learn “indirectly,” by carefully noticing small details. For example, the following excerpt comes from the St. Gregory Hymnal and Catholic Choir Book, published in 1941 (Nihil Obstat, 7 July 1920):

      * *  St. Gregory Hymnal • Printed 11 September 1941 (copyright 1920 by Nicola Montani)

Notice the following interesting sentence:

During a High Mass, the Choir will begin the Graduale etc. while the Priest recites the Epistle.

Because I used the word interesting, my grad school professors would mark my papers with red ink, saying, “Let your readers decide if it’s interesting.” However, anyone who’s studied the liturgy will understand why that instruction is remarkable. Verbum sapienti satis est. Consider, too, the following example, again from the St. Gregory Hymnal (it should be “Christe,” by the way):

The Choir does not sing the “Laus tibi Christi” after the Gospel or the “Deo Gratias” after the “Epistle,” these responses are for the Acolytes only

That would seem to indicate that some choirs were actually singing those responses! I could give examples all day long, but let’s consider just one more, excerpted from some 1931 regulations I recently posted here:

At High Mass the Celebrant is not allowed to proceed with the Offertory while the Credo is being sung. Likewise he should not proceed with the Consecration until the singing of the Sanctus is completed.

Wow! That would seem to indicate that some priests were starting the Offertory before the Credo had been completed. How crazy is that?!! Later on, I’d like to write more about those regulations, because there’s more to consider. For instance, songs are judged as “secular” according to how they were first performed, instead of their inherent musical qualities.

THE DANGER, OF COURSE, as I’ve mentioned before, is jumping to conclusions based on this or that document. Many historians, sadly, are guilty of this, and it happens constantly in the field of Gregorian scholarship, where inordinate emphasis is often given to a handful of manuscripts. On the one hand, mistakes by these sloppy scholars are understandable. They ask, “What are we supposed to do if we only have 2-3 manuscripts from a given period? Documentation in ancient times was not so plentiful as it is since the invention of the printing press.” However, responsible scholars realize and acknowledge that manuscripts which have survived through the centuries are only clues, and don’t necessarily represent universal practice. Furthermore, responsible scholars take into consideration the fact that how we write and what we record in the year 2013 might not be identical to what took place 500 or 900 or 1300 years ago. As a matter of fact, the whole concept of “making records” and “writing things down” back then (especially before the time of Charlemagne) had very little to do with our current notions. In the Middle Ages, many people didn’t even know (or care) the current year, because they lived according to liturgical season. But this is another discussion for another time …

When reading quotes like those above, the proper attitude is to simply say, “Based on such-and-such, it seems that certain priests in certain churches allowed certain practices.” The mere fact that something is condemned in print does not de facto mean it was a universal practice. [Isn’t it remarkable that such a sentence even needs to be articulated? And yet, so many people don’t grasp this fundamental truth.]

I’m reminded of a dissertation I once read. A particular student had carefully gone through some written records of “visitations” during the Middle Ages. (Visitations were yearly visits by the bishop, wherein members of a religious community, for example, got to privately report on their conditions to the bishop — in essence, a private “complaining session.” By the way, one of the major complaints had to do with people bringing loud dogs into church services). Some deal with musical performance practice at certain religious houses, and, sadly, the author treated them as if they described universal practice! One entry said something to the effect of, “The pause after the psalmody asterisk is so long that one could say the first half of the Lord’s Prayer.” Why do I bring this up? Because a certain professional group I know adheres to this “historically informed” advice for their Gregorian chant recordings … and it drives me nuts. From my humble perspective, it seems reasonable to take these “visitation records” with a grain of salt, because people often exaggerate when they complain. However, unscrupulous musicologists have a hard time doing this, because (it’s true!) so few descriptions of performance practice have come down to us.

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

Filed Under: Articles 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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

On October 14, 1968, our Holy Father, Pope Paul VI, in an address to the Roman liturgy Consilium, pointed out the abuse which wants to “remove the sacred from liturgical worship and replace the holy with the commonplace and the every-day.”

— Quoted by Roger Wagner in a 1970 article

Recent Posts

  • “How to Conduct 90 Vespers Services Each Year and Live to Tell the Tale.”
  • 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • The Tallis Scholars
  • Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
  • Pope Saint Paul VI to Consilium (14 October 1968)

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