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Views from the Choir Loft

Singing A Capella During the Easter Triduum

Andrew R. Motyka · April 9, 2014

HE EASTER TRIDUUM can produce some interesting musical challenges. The amount of music preparation necessary for these most important three days of the liturgical year is daunting. Hopefully your preparation is going well.

One tradition that many parishes continue is singing a cappella beginning after the Gloria on Holy Thursday until the Gloria on Easter Vigil. While this is normative in the Extraordinary Form, it is optional in the Ordinary Form. The rubrics about instrumental use during the Triduum are identical to those during Lent: instruments may only be used to accompany singing. Nevertheless, following the older tradition, even in the Ordinary Form, lends a solemnity to the Triduum that punctuates the entire season.

Most choirs can sing at least simple music without accompaniment. Here are Responsorial Psalms for both Holy Thursday and Good Friday. They are set for a cappella SATB choir, and could quite easily be learned in one rehearsal (good thing; that’s probably all you have left).

I hope your last week of preparation is fruitful, beautiful, and low-stress.

CLICK BELOW for the FREE PDF download.

      * *  Holy Thursday Responsorial Psalm — Motyka

      * *  Good Friday Responsorial Psalm — Motyka

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 Andrew R. Motyka

Andrew Motyka is the Archdiocesan Director of Liturgical Music and Cathedral Music for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Hymn by Cardinal Newman
    During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world's experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. Father Louis Bouyer—famous theologian, close friend of Pope Paul VI, and architect of post-conciliar reforms—wrote thus vis-à-vis the elimination of Septuagesima: “I prefer to say nothing, or very little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed (with no good reason) Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost and who scattered three quarters of the Saints higgledy-piddledy, all based on notions of their own devising!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“In everything of any importance at all, Sarum (and all other mediæval rites) was simply Roman, the rite which we still use.”

— Fr. Adrian Fortescue (1912)

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