Views from the Choir Loft

“Convent Mass” For Two Sopranos — A. E. Tozer (1911)

Jeff Ostrowski · July 31, 2014 ·

E’VE BEEN providing free downloads of rare Catholic musical scores. A few weeks ago, for example, we posted the famous Tozer Propers, along with full Propers from Kansas and Texas.

I thought it might be interesting to show an example of how music for the Ordinary of Mass—Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei—sounded during that era:

* * PDF Download: Tozer “Convent Mass”

Published in 1911, this “Convent Mass” is for two sopranos. Augustus Edmonds Tozer was a convert from Anglicanism, and his compositional style does reflect this. Still, his music was popular in Catholic Churches at the time.

HAD THIS MASS been written for Anglican ceremonies, I’m fairly certain Tozer would have used English, instead of Latin & Greek. By the way, did you know that President James A. Garfield often impressed his buddies by using his ambidexterity to write in Latin & Greek simultaneously? It’s true. Other interesting facts about President Garfield: He was the last president born in a log cabin and he was the first president to campaign in two languages (English and German). Also, on election day, November 2, 1880, he was at the same time a member of the House, Senator-elect, and President-elect.

About Jeff Ostrowski

A theorist, organist, and conductor, Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004), and did graduate work in Musicology. He serves as choirmaster for the new FSSP parish in Los Angeles, where he resides with his wife and 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