Views from the Choir Loft

Musical Resources • 4th Sunday of Advent

Jeff Ostrowski · December 19, 2014

RESPONSES FOR HIGH MASS (single sheet)

PDF Score (Singer)

PROCESSIONAL HYMN • O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Vocalist Score (TEMP) • Organist

ASPERGES ME

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer) • Organist

PRAYERS AFTER ASPERGES ME

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer)

INTROIT

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer)

KYRIE ELEISON

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer) • Organist

GRADUAL & ALLELUIA

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer) • Organist

CREDO IV

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer) • Organist

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer)

OFFERTORY HYMN • Creator Alme Siderum

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer) • Organist

SANCTUS

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer) • Organist

AGNUS DEI

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer) • Organist

COMMUNION ANTIPHON

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer)

COMMUNION POLYPHONY

Verdelot Polyphony

RECESSIONAL HYMN

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer) • Organist

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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

“What Martin Luther Said…”

My pastor asked me to write little columns for the bulletin each week. The article for 20 July 2025 has been posted, and it’s called: “What Luther Said…” Martin Luther (an ex-priest and apostate) was an infamous heretic whose ignorance of JESUS CHRIST was only exceeded by his filthy and disgusting vulgarity.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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

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

Had the Church never spoken on this matter, it would still be repugnant to our Catholic people’s sense of what is fit and proper in the holiest of places, that a priest should have to struggle through the prayers of the Holy Mass, because of such tunes as “Alice, where art thou?” the “Vacant Chair,” and others of more vulgar title, which, through the carelessness or bad judgment of organists, sometimes find their way into our choirs.

— Preface to a Roman Catholic Hymnal (1896)