Views from the Choir Loft

Carlo Rossini: “Exaltate Deum Hymnal” (1941)

Jeff Ostrowski · August 10, 2015

ETER MEGGISON has kindly sent me this rare book by Rev. Carlo Rossini. It’s a choral collection with 115 Offertories, Motets, and Hymns for the entire Ecclesiastical year. In the past, I was not a huge fan of Rossini. However, with the passage of time, I’ve come to appreciate a whole lot of what he did:

* * PDF • Rossini’s “Exaltate Deum” (1941)

Fr. Rossini understood that the sacred liturgy often requires very short pieces. Unfortunately, this is not always the case with the great choral masterpieces of the Renaissance and Baroque. For example, yesterday I looked at a setting of the “Salve Regina” by a fantastic Renaissance composer—but it was in five (5) sections and would have required about seventeen (17) minutes to sing. I think that’s why Rossini did what he did in this book.

If you appreciate this book, please tell all your friends about Mr. Meggison’s amazing hymn website.

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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski

15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski

15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski