Views from the Choir Loft

“Pius X Hymnal” (1953) by Ted Marier … free online!

Jeff Ostrowski · December 13, 2013

HEODORE MARIER’S beautiful hymn book, the PIUS X HYMNAL, is now available online. You can freely download the complete PDF using the link below.

Published in 1953, it was edited by the faculty of the Pius Tenth School of Liturgical Music (Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, NY). Note: a different 1950s book called “Pius X Hymnal” was published by a group in Australia.

* * Organist & Choir Edition • 536 pages

* * Congregational Edition • 51 pages

IT’S INTERESTING TO NOTE that Marier’s Pius X Hymnal has just 58 metrical hymns for the congregation, whereas the Campion Hymnal has 140 metrical hymns for the congregation, which you can see by viewing the fact sheet.

The St. Edmund Campion Hymnal, a congregational book, cannot substitute for crucial choir materials like the Liber Usualis, Cantus Selecti, and so forth. However, those who consider 140+ English Hymns and 20+ Latin Hymns insufficient should consider the words of Msgr. Richard Schuler (1984):

“How many hymns does a parish need? Certainly not the vast number crowded into so many modern hymnbooks. If a parish has twenty-five good hymns, it can develop a great enthusiasm for singing. The people don’t mind repetition of good music; in fact, the more they sing the great hymns the more they love them.”

View a video of Dr. Marier conducting Gregorian chant by clicking here. I’m told that a DVD wherein Marier explains how to sing chant can be purchased here.

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

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).

Myth Re: Johann Sebastian Bach

Some musicologists try to make a “splash” by saying that Bach was totally forgotten when he died—remembered only as an organ virtuoso—and that his sons were more famous than he was. Such an idea is indefensible. It is true that musical styles changed in 1750AD—but this is normal. Musical styles change constantly; e.g. much of the repertoire of Hofmann and Rachmaninov was considered “garbage” toward the end of their lives. But those who carefully study the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Liszt, Hans von Bülow, Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin, and countless others realize that Bach was revered. It’s true that his music was seldom played in public, but music by “dead composers” was generally speaking not played in public until approximately the middle of the 19th century.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Arthur Friedheim, Franz Liszt’s Secretary

Arthur Friedheim (d. 1932) has a very poor reputation as a pianist, and Liszt rejected him several times before finally accepting him as a pupil, yet the Liszt recordings he left are quite good—especially considering the transgressions by other Liszt pupils. Friedheim must have been an amazing musician; twice he was asked to become conductor of the New York Philharmonic (1898 + 1911) but he declined both times. Circa 1912, Friedheim was recording Chopin’s “Funeral March” but the record ran out, so he simply stopped in the middle of the piece. Things sure have changed! Pianists no longer stop in the middle of pieces, although Cortot would sometimes abridge pieces to make them fit on records (cf. Chopin’s Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise Brilliante).

—Jeff Ostrowski

“A blast from the past”

Consilium document (“Instantibus Pluribus”) to presidents of the national liturgical commissions, on norms for translation of the Graduale Simplex, dated 23 January 1968: “The types of chant in the Graduale Simplex may be adapted to the style of music and song typical of individual peoples. But any sort of secular or profane melody is excluded.”

—Jeff Ostrowski