Views from the Choir Loft

Watershed Needs Your Help To Continue!

Jeff Ostrowski · October 16, 2015

IRST, A WORD ABOUT the title of this post. We’ve tried more subtle ways to ask for money—but they never work. We hate asking for money, and especially with a title that makes us sound desperate. We are not desperate, because God always provides. However, we require more donors willing to give $5.00 per month. Can you help?

* * Help Us Continue Our Work • Pledge $5.00 per month

Please help us introduce to more people the beauty of sacred music. How can anyone hear an antiphon—such as the following—and not agree it’s utterly sublime?

Please help us upload more rare books—such as 1934 Antiphonale—one of hundreds which would not otherwise be available, except for Watershed.

Please help us make practice videos, like this one, for my favorite chant: GAUDEAMUS. ¹

Please help us continue. We hear from Catholic musicians throughout the entire world who appreciate our ministry! Here’s an excerpt from a recent message:

HAVE TO THANK YOU for all your diligence, sacrifice, and hard work to help musicians, such as myself. Corpus Christi Watershed has been extremely helpful and has brought so much solace and support, knowing there is someone out there that understands what I’m going through. God bless and may the angels protect you always.

We are a 100% volunteer organization. None of us receives any salary.

NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1 Cristóbal de Morales must have liked this piece too, because he used it underneath a piece with a remarkable history, centering on the Truce of Nice in 1538. Here’s a recording, and here’s the score. Do you hear the Gaudeamus underneath? The composition has a fascinating history, and Morales would later write an entire Mass based on this Motet.

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).

“Music List” • 19th in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (10 August 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the feasts website.

—Jeff Ostrowski

This Sunday’s Communion Antiphon

This coming Sunday—10 August 2025—is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). The COMMUNION ANTIPHON is really gorgeous, and two of its features are worth mentioning. First of all, the Gospel reading assigned is from Saint Luke, whereas the the antiphon—although it matches the account—comes from Saint Matthew. (If anyone can point to a similar example, please notify me.) Furthermore, if you look at the authentic Gregorian Chant version posted on the feasts website, you’ll notice that it’s MODE III but ends on the ‘wrong’ note. A comparable instance of such a ‘transposed’ chant would be KYRIE IV.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Using “Ye” Vs. “You” Correctly

Using “Ye” vs. “You” is rather tricky, because it depends upon which era one is trying to recreate—if that makes any sense. In other words, the rules haven’t always been the same for these two. Nevertheless, Father Philip George Caraman (the legendary Jesuit scholar) gives us a masterclass using Saint Luke’s Gospel. Father Caraman was close friends with Monsignor Ronald Knox, Evelyn Waugh, and Sir Alec Guinness.

—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