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Corpus Christi Watershed

“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

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.

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

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

“Only against this background, of the effective denial of the authority of Trent, can one understand the bitterness of the struggle against allowing the celebration of Mass according to the 1962 Missal after the liturgical reform. The possibility of so celebrating constitutes the strongest, and thus (for them) the most intolerable contradiction of the opinion of those who believe that the faith in the Eucharist, as formulated by Trent, has lost its validity.”

— Cardinal Ratzinger, 2001

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