Views from the Choir Loft

Musical Resources • First Sunday of Advent (Extraordinary Form)

Jeff Ostrowski · November 29, 2015

RESPONSES FOR HIGH MASS

PDF Score (Singer) • printed on a single sheet

PROCESSIONAL • #796 Veni, Veni Emmanuel

From the Campion Hymnal. Organist.

ASPERGES

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer) • Organist

To practice the new section of the Asperges, you must locate #4550.

INTROIT • Sung by the men only.

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer)

KYRIE ELEISON

Our Palestrina Kyrie will be sung during Advent. The CHRISTE section (#5054) and the KYRIE section (#5053).

To practice the Kyrie by Richard Rice, which will sing again someday, you must locate #4781.

Sometimes we do a Kyrie from the Campion Hymnal. The organist needs this Accompaniment. To learn this piece, go here and find “Kyrie XI.”

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS

Glória in excélsis is omitted from the first Sunday of Advent until Christmas, except on Feasts.

GRADUAL & ALLELUIA

To practice the new Palestrina ALLELUIA, you must locate #4470. The other one we know is #5050.

You don’t need to practice the chant verses which change each week.

CREDO IV • Alternatim

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer) • Organist

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON

PDF Score (Singer)

OFFERTORY

We will sing Praeclara Custos Virginum, which you learn by rehearsing #4022.

SANCTUS & HOSANNA

We have been singing #4912 and will sing it again this Sunday.

Sometimes—but not this coming Sunday—we sing a different polyphonic “Hosanna,” which is #5048. You don’t need to practice the Chant Part.

AGNUS DEI

To practice the Agnus Dei by Philippe Verdelot (d. 1531), you must locate #4801.

Don’t forget our other setting, #4347.

COMMUNION ORGAN

Organist … while choir receives Holy Communion.

COMMUNION ANTIPHON

PDF Score (Singer) • Practice Audio (Singer)

COMMUNION POLYPHONY

We will sing #4428 this Sunday. It is called “Jesu Dulcis Memoria.”

COMMUNION HYMN

Please practice #4063 (Te Saeculorum).

Organist uses this accompaniment.

RECESSIONAL HYMN • #797 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

From the Campion Hymnal. Organist.

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).

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Music Director Job • $80,000 per year

Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!

—Jeff Ostrowski

Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published

Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.

—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