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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • Extremely Rare Hymnal (1952)

Jeff Ostrowski · September 28, 2015

249 Sancta Missa HANKS to Corpus Christi Watershed, many Catholic hymnals have been made available for free & instant download. Several of these—such as Westminster’s DAILY HYMN BOOK—are incredibly valuable. Others are interesting mainly from a historical point of view. 1

The following probably falls into the latter category, but I still think you’ll enjoy it:

    * *  PDF • CANTATE OMNES HYMNAL (1952)

Will you help us continue our work? I have more hymnals I’d like to upload—including rare English hymnals I bet you’ve never seen—but we need your help.

A young lady here in Los Angeles is willing to scan these books, but I can’t ask her to do it for free.

    * *  Donate to Watershed

There’s a $5.00-per-month, $7.00-per-month, $10.00-per-month, and so forth.

Of course hymnals are only part of our work. None of our contributors—including myself—is paid a salary. But when our website malfunctions (for example) that costs money. You already know about the wonderful blog articles by our authors and probably noticed improvements to GoupilChant. However, there’s another project I’d like to complete if we can get enough monthly donors, and I just know you’ll love it! (That’s all I can reveal at this time.)

ALLOW ME TO MENTION just one more project. We’ve been creating rehearsal videos—about 25 so far—to assist choirs. Our goal is to eventually create about 150. To demonstrate what I mean, let me show you a lovely piece by (surprise!) Fr. Carlo Rossini:

    * *  PDF Download • Rev. Carlo Rossini “VERBUM SUPERNUM”

EQUAL VOICES : YouTube   •   Mp3 Audio

SOPRANO : YouTube   •   Audio

ALTO : YouTube   •   Audio

TENOR : YouTube   •   Audio

BASS : YouTube   •   Audio

If you don’t like the breath marks, you can ignore them. 2




NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   The group who created the Cantate Omnes Hymnal still exists, and asserts on their website: “In the 1950s, our founders published the Cantate Omnes Hymnal—the first vernacular hymnal for Catholics in the United States.” In light of the link I mentioned above, this statement is absurd.

2   Anyone who has ever directed choirs in real life realizes there’s no such thing as “correct” breath marks. Breaths will depend on numerous factors: skill of the singers; acoustics of the building; tempo; contrapuntal considerations; number of singers; and so forth. A great singer like Matthew J. Curtis is capable of things an amateur singer is not. It’s kind of like the edition of Bach containing fingerings by Hans Bischoff. These can be quite valuable; yet some pianists ignore them—and that’s just fine.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Roman Catholic Hymnals Last Updated: January 13, 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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Quick Thoughts

Alabama Assessment!

We received this evaluation of Symposium 2022 from an Alabama participant:

“Oh, how the Symposium echoed the words of Cardinal Merry Del Val: …choosing only what is most conformed to Thy glory, which is my final aim. In one short and fast paced week, the faculty and attendees showed me the hand of God and our Lady working in our lives. The wide range of education—from Gregorian Chant, jazz modes in organ improvisation, to ‘staying sane’ while leading a choir—were certainly first-class knowledge from the best teachers of the art. However, the most powerful lesson was learning how to pray as a choir. The sacrifice of putting songs together, taking time to learn the sacred text, meditating on the church teaching through the chants, and gaining the virtues required to persevere in these duties were not only qualities of a choir but of a saint. The sanctification of the lives of the attendees was a beautiful outcome of this event … and that in itself is worth more than a beautifully-sung Solesmes style chant!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
PDF Download • Trinity Sunday (22 pages)

Feel free to download this Organ Accompaniment Booklet for Trinity Sunday (Second Vespers). Notice how the modes progress by number. Psalm 1 is mode 1; Psalm 2 is mode 2; Psalm 3 is mode 3; Psalm 4 is mode 4; Psalm 5 is mode 5. I am told by an expert that other feasts (such as Corpus Christi) are likewise organized by mode, and it’s called a “numerical office.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
10 June 2022 • “Official” rhythm of plainsong

I continue to search for the most beautiful way to present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores. (Technically, the “pure” rhythm of the official edition is what everyone is supposed to use.) You can download my latest attempt, which is the Introit for this coming Sunday: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is not an ancient feast, the Introit had to be adapted (perhaps around 750AD). Prior Johner says the adaptation is “not an entirely happy one.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

This was first breach in the walls of a fortress, centuries old, stoutly built, strong and robust, but no longer capable of responding to the spiritual needs of the age. [N.B. the “fortress” is a liturgy which nourished countless great saints.]

— Annibale Bugnini (19 March 1966)

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