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Views from the Choir Loft

UGLY • Just Plain, Old-Fashioned Ugly

Jeff Ostrowski · July 7, 2015

UPPOSE YOU ASKED ME to name my favorite composition and I replied, “I like them all.” That’s a rather weak answer. Much stronger would be, “My favorite piece is CONTRAPUNCTUS VII from Bach’s Art of the Fugue.” But when it comes to medieval manuscripts, I really do love them all. For example, look at how the artist used 3D to great effect here:

544 Ms 3d


It doesn’t matter when a particular manuscript was created or by whom. Nor does it matter whether they are highly ornate or plain. They are all incredibly gorgeous:

540 Placidi 545 layout 546 letter


As you’ve probably deduced, I’m not a huge fan of contemporary Church art. Moreover, it cannot hold a candle to the traditional artwork. Nothing illustrates this better than this sacrilegious addition to a Jesuit church in Vienna:

550 Jesuit Church Vienna


In the years immediately following Vatican II, the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy sometimes met in the following “brutalist” church, and I suspect that location subliminally influenced some of their decisions:

542 Saint John's Abbey Collegeville


I think that church is a travesty. They ought to have looked at the great cathedrals for inspiration, aiming for something BEAUTIFUL. Some will say I’m just too stupid to appreciate a brutalist church. Okay, maybe I am too stupid; but look at the sculpture of St. John the Baptist they have in the same church:

552 Doris Caesar Sculpture


In my opinion, that sculpture is disgusting, and their so-called “Scary Mary” (by the same artist) is not much better. Since that’s a Benedictine community, they ought to have opened up the ancient monastic manuscripts and imitated the beauty therein.

WE WILL CONTINUE to promote traditional artwork and encourage young artists like this one. Congregations seem to appreciate good artwork in spite of what the “experts” tell them. For example, I know of several cities where numerous couples wanted to get married in the old cathedral instead of the new (contemporary architecture) cathedral—and the bishops in those cities got so angry they ended up forbidding weddings in the old cathedrals.

However, I have an important question. Have you noticed that contemporary music was not forced upon congregations the same way contemporary architecture was? Much contemporary music uses “palatable” music, often similar to jingles you might hear in a television commercial. One popular Mass setting is even lifted the melody from “My Little Pony.”

Does anyone know the answer to this question? Why were Catholic congregations never subjected to music that sounds like, say, Milton Babbitt or Arnold Schoenberg? 1 If you don’t know what I’m getting at, search YouTube for Milton Babbitt.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   I’d better stop here, because I don’t want my fellow CCW contributors to hear what I have to say about icons like Stravinsky, Ives, Penderecki, and so on.

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 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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Message from the Vice-President!
    The Vice-President of the Church Music Association of America, Dr. Horst Buchholz (who also serves as Director of Sacred Music for the Archdiocese of Detroit) sent us an email yesterday regarding the harmonizations (PDF) I composed for the Gregorian Chant psalm tones. Dr. Buchholz says: “Those settings are absolutely exquisite, as I'm used to when it comes from you. Bravo! Well done! Now, as a sequel, if you could write something for accompanying psalms in English that would be awesome.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Requesting Our Advent Eucharistic Hymn
    A young lady named Agnes wrote to us: “Dear Mr. Ostrowski, do you have the PDF score for Ave Corpus Domini set to the ADVENT melody? Last year, we sang the hymn tune “Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland” quite a bit using your contrafactum technique. My choir appreciates the Latin hymns and practice videos, especially in the ADVENT and CHRISTMAS seasons. Your recent article on Gregorian Psalm Tones is a great help to my organist brother, and reminds us of attending VESPERS years ago when we lived in California. Thank you so much for all the effort put into providing these wonderful resources!”   Agnes, if you are listening! Yes, the PDF file you desire can be downloaded for free at the Brébeuf Portal via this URL link. Thanks for writing to us!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Seven (7) Hymn Verses for November!
    In the month of November, we remember in a special way the souls in purgatory. The BRÉBEUF HYMNAL often includes text alone versions for its hymns; why is that? The short answer is: flexibility. The “text only” version allows each choirmaster to employ a myriad of melodies. For example, I recently set the English translation of “De Profúndis” with the DAVOST MELODY (PDF). We are singing this before November ends. Indeed, you can hear our volunteer singing this (in real life) if you click here.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The authority of the Pope is not unlimited. It is at the service of Sacred Tradition. Still less is any kind of general ‘freedom’ of manufacture, degenerating into spontaneous improvisation, compatible with the essence of faith and liturgy. The greatness of the liturgy depends—we shall have to repeat this frequently—on its lack of spontaneity.”

— Josef Cardinal Ratzinger (2000)

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