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.

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served for five years 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 in Washington, D.C.

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski