• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“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)

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • Ordinary Form Feasts (Sainte-Marie)
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

A Culture Obsessed With Sensationalism

Jeff Ostrowski · October 28, 2013

The one who tells the story can matter more than the story itself. Suppose I wrote the following:

ITH SWEAT on my brow, I began the final piece on my jury program: a Concerto by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Approaching the recapitulation, I saw one judge raise a hand, saying simply: “Enough.” I stopped playing and knew my career was over.

Pretty dramatic, huh? And every word is true … but there’s one problem: it’s false. But if it’s false, how can every word be true? The author (in this case, myself) is guilty of sensationalism. For example, it’s true they stopped me before the Recap … but they always stop students before the Recap. (In a Classical Concerto, the Recap is the same basic music, transposed to a different key.) It’s true my “career” was over, but that’s because I’d made a decision to switch majors, so this was my last piano jury. And, yes, I was sweating like crazy, mainly because (Uh oh!) I hadn’t memorized the Recap of the Beethoven, since the judges normally stop you before the Recap. Still, just knowing they might ask for the Recap made me nervous. If they did, I was in big trouble.

SENSATIONALISM IS THE SCOURGE of our age. Just look at the reporting on Pope Francis, which has been inaccurate to the point of absurdity. The unqualified journalists who try to “make sense” of what’s happening are totally clueless about even the most basic facts. I’ve been taking a lot of screenshots of the nonsense so I’ll have a record of it forever.

I recently came across an article where Damian Thompson relates an event the same way the piccoluomini might. That is, his account is silly and uninformed to the point of absurdity. A famous concert pianist, Stephen Hough, tears apart the account here. Hough does a good job, so I won’t repeat everything he says. To make a long story short, it’s bizarre that both conductor and pianist were too lazy to discuss things like tempi beforehand, and it was not a “miracle” that Maria João Pires could play a piece she’d performed every year for the past eight years.

If you want to read about a real “miracle” of pianism, read this:

      * *  Story about the Pianist Ignaz Friedman • Story by conductor Georg Schneevoigt

Notice the story is told by a witness who was himself a professional musician. There are similar stories about Hofmann, Gieseking, Rachmaninov, Horowitz, Gould, and many other great pianists. These are real pianistic “miracles,” not the nonsense related by Damian Thompson. [Please notice I am not saying Mr. Thompson is a bad person; but in this particular case, he got it wrong.]

SPEAKING OF SENSATIONALISTIC NONSENSE, the other day I mentioned The Monk’s Tale, which is a biography of Godfrey Diekmann. Perhaps I shouldn’t call it a biography; it’s more of a “hagiography.” Even though it’s written by a Catholic sister, I couldn’t find anything in the book which condemns or criticizes Diekmann’s troubling beliefs, such as his support for women’s ordination to the priesthood or his fanatical promotion of the “hootenanny Mass.” Reading The Monk’s Tale, one also gets the impression that the 1970s ICEL translation (with which Diekmann was quite involved) was the greatest, most wonderful thing of all time. However, folks like Godfrey Diekmann never anticipated the internet, which allows honest Catholics to see for themselves the truth. After all, in the 1970s, the official Latin texts were incredibly expensive and hard to come by, so many Catholics had no idea how inaccurate that first translation was.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Ignacy Friedman Pianist, Ignaz Friedman, Pope Francis Last Updated: January 12, 2021

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

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).

Primary Sidebar

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 Latin] “No change in Mass: people have missals and can read. More vernacular can be useful in the Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Extreme Unction, Matrimony.”

— Cardinal Spellman (one of the Vatican II fathers)

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)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

The election of Pope Leo XIV has been exciting, and we’re filled with hope for our apostolate’s future!

But we’re under pressure to transfer our website to a “subscription model.”

We don’t want to do that. We believe our website should remain free to all.

Our president has written the following letter:

President’s Message (dated 30 May 2025)

Are you able to support us?

clock.png

Time's up