Views from the Choir Loft

Musical Resources • Palm Sunday (1962)

Jeff Ostrowski · March 29, 2015

RESPONSES FOR HIGH MASS

PDF Score (Singer) • printed on a single sheet

TO BEGIN THE CEREMONIES

PDF Score • Hosanna

AS PALM BRANCHES ARE DISTRIBUTED TO THE SERVERS

PDF Score • Two Antiphons

DURING THE PROCESSION

PDF Score • Gloria Laus

AS PROCESSION ENTERS CHURCH

PDF Score • Ingrediente • Practice Audio (Singer)

INTROIT

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer)

KYRIE ELEISON • Palestrina Parody Mass

Part 1 • Part 2 • Practice the Solfège • Part 2 (option)

GRADUAL & TRACT • Mode III

PDF Score (Singer)

CREDO IV • Alternatim

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer) • No Organist

OFFRT. ANTIPHON

PDF Score (Singer)

OFFERTORY HYMN • Pange Lingua

#178 in Campion Missal

SANCTUS • Morales & Plainsong

Score & Practice Videos

AGNUS

Du Fay Agnus Dei • Score • {Women Voice} • {Middle Voice} • {Men Voice}

COMM. ANTIPHON

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer)

COMMUNION POLYPHONY

Kevin Allen • Domine Non Sum Dignus

Here are some passworded videos (29 March 2015) for the FSSP.la choir:

(Equal Voices)

(Women’s Voices)

(Middle Voices)

(Men’s Voices)

RECESSIONAL HYMN • #837 O Sacred Head, Surrounded

From Campion Hymnal.

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).

(Part 2) • Did they simplify this hymn?

Choirs love to sing the resplendent tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1929, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. Their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Father Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1929 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. As always, the Germans added an organ INTRODUCTION. For the record, I posted a different harmonization a few months ago which was downloaded more than 2,000 times.

—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF • “Lectionary Comparison Chart”

Various shell corporations (in an effort to make money selling Sacred Scripture) have tinkered with the LECTIONARY texts in a way that’s shameful. It’s no wonder Catholics in the pews know so few Bible passages by heart. Without authorization, these shell corporations pervert the official texts. Consider the Responsorial Psalm for the 1st Sunday of Advent (Year A). If you download this PDF comparison chart you’ll notice each country randomly omits certain sections. Such tinkering has gone on for 60+ years—and it’s reprehensible.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Monsignor Klaus Gamber Speaks!

An interesting quotation from the eminent liturgist, Monsignor Klaus Gamber (d. 1989): “According to canon law, a person’s affiliation with a particular liturgical rite is determined by that person’s rite of baptism. Given that the liturgical reforms of Pope Paul VI created a de facto new rite, one could assert that those among the faithful who were baptized according to the traditional Roman rite have the right to continue following that rite; just as priests who were ordained according to the traditional Ordo have the right to exercise the very rite that they were ordained to celebrate.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”

My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 12 October 2025) talks about an ‘irony’ or ‘paradox’ regarding the 1960s switch to a wider use (amplior locus) of vernacular in the liturgy.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)

The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams

Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.

—Jeff Ostrowski