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Views from the Choir Loft

Motet for Three Voices: “O Crux Ave”

Fr. David Friel · January 24, 2016

HE SPACE between Christmas and Lent never seems as long as we expect (or would like). Preparations for Lent and Holy Week have already begun in many parishes, with Ash Wednesday looming on February 10th. Time is therefore precious at upcoming choir rehearsals.

On Friday, Richard Clark offered links to a number of resources he has published for Lent and Easter. Today, allow me to offer a link to a composition of my own.

Available through CanticaNOVA Publications, my setting of O Crux, Ave is written for three voices. The range is limited enough that it can be sung by equal voices (either men or women) or by a mixed choir (SAB).

This piece is ideal for use as a motet during the veneration of the Holy Cross at the Good Friday liturgy. Its structure with optional verses allows the piece to be limited or extended, as necessary, while its text focuses attention on the majesty of the Holy Cross. The text is actually a splicing of a phrase from the Exsultet with a line from the Passiontide hymn, Vexilla Regis prodeunt.

O Crux Ave can also be sung at any point in Passiontide (from the Fifth Sunday of Lent through Good Friday) or on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14th). This piece, which can be ordered here, is an easy, go-to piece for choirs to use any time there is a focus on the Holy Cross or the mystery of salvation.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: CanticaNOVA Publications, Exsultet, Holy Week, Sheet Music Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Fr. David Friel

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(Read full biography).

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Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“I would hope there is a place [at Mass] for the avant-garde in the same way I think there has to be a place—and we have to be careful with this—a place for Jazz and a place for Evangelical and all of that. […] On theological grounds, I do think we need interaction with the culture at the level of high art or at the level of more commercial pop culture.”

— Fr. Anthony Ruff (22 June 2016)

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