Views from the Choir Loft

This wonderful Bishop’s letter on the Blessed Sacrament

Veronica Brandt · June 28, 2014 ·

HE FEAST DAYS ARE FLYING thick and fast. Today is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and here I am writing about Corpus Christi which seems so long ago.

There is a link between the two, as we see in the Divine Office taking us back to the office hymn tune for Christmas, drawing the parallel between adoring Jesus in the arms of His Blessed Mother and Jesus in the hands of the priest.

Last Sunday, however, I had the pleasure of reading the pastoral letter: This Wonderful Sacrament by Bishop Anthony Fisher OP of Paramatta.

A few things stand out:

The opening story – read it – child-like faith in the True Presence
Preparation before communion – including confession and the hour’s fast
Kneeling – defended with an example from C S Lewis’ Screwtape Letters
Encouraging adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during the day and early evening

In the written version we see the subheadings taken from liturgical Latin, the hymn O sacrum convivium and the prayers at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. No direct mention of sacred music, but the emphasis on reverence is there.

There is reason for hope.

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. As editor, she has produced fine publications (as well as valuable reprints) dealing with Gregorian chant, hymnody, Latin, and other subjects. These publications are distinguished on account of their tastefulness. She lives in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her husband Peter and six children.

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski