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Views from the Choir Loft

Rehearsal Videos • “O Magnum Mysterium” (Victoria)

Jeff Ostrowski · December 7, 2015

953 O Magnum Mysterium Victoria IKE MANY of his fellow composers, TOMÁS LUIS DE VICTORIA (†1611) was a Roman Catholic priest. 1 His distinctive religious sensibility was apparent in his compositions, and a striking example is his setting of the Responsory for the Octave Day of Christmas:

    * *  O Magnum Mysterium (PDF)

I’ve created rehearsal videos for each voice to help amateur choirs. It can be a bit frightening to tackle such a masterpiece—and sometimes feels like “rushing in where angels fear to tread”—but hopefully these practice videos help:

EQUAL VOICES : YouTube   •   Mp3 Audio

SOPRANO : YouTube   •   Audio

ALTO : YouTube   •   Audio

TENOR : YouTube   •   Audio

BASS : YouTube   •   Audio

Renaissance composers frequently (but not always) left it up to the singers to add the sharps and flats. The rules for “musica ficta” are fairly straightforward, but—as many Renaissance theorists pointed out—problems arise when the various rules conflict.

Many editions of Victoria’s O Magnum Mysterium have a sharp for the Sopranos in measure 21 but a natural for Tenors in measure 20, even though they sing the exact same phrase. Here’s the Tenor line in a 1582 manuscript:

959 TENOR 1583b


There are reasons why Tenors might not sing a sharp—while the Sopranos do—but there are more compelling reasons why they ought to match. When I looked at a 1572 manuscript, I found that missing sharp for the Tenors:

958 O Magnum Mysterium Victoria 1572


Now I will reveal the “dirty little secret” about musica ficta: we prefer it how we learned it. In other words, we tend to prefer a piece the way we sang it the first time. For example, some editions have the Sopranos in measure 42 singing a natural—not a sharp—and there are compelling reasons for this; but in my edition, I keep the “traditional” way.

For those of you who know this piece, have you ever sung directly from the part book? Here’s how the TENOR would have been sung in the 16th century.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Cristóbal de Morales (†1553), Costanzo Porta (†1601), Lodovico Viadana (†1627), and Gregorio Allegri (†1652) were all clerics, and many more composers could be mentioned.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Tomas Luis de Victoria Composer 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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    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

Quick Thoughts

    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

Random Quote

Tournemire could be charming or he could bite your head off. One day I could not replace him at St. Clotilde because I had a wedding to play at another church. Tournemire played on Sunday, period—that was all. He did not play weddings and so forth. (He put all that on my back.) So I went to Tournemire’s house to tell him, “Master, I am sorry but, for once, I cannot replace you. I have another obligation to fulfill.” He said, “Get out of here!” I left for good.

— Testimony of Maurice Duruflé

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