Views from the Choir Loft

Catholic Service to be Celebrated in the Chapel Royal

Andrew Leung · January 5, 2016 ·

HAT EXCITING NEWS! For the first time in more than 450 years, a Roman Catholic service will be celebrated in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace. Vincent Cardinal Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, is going to celebrate Vespers on February 9 in Henry VIII’s chapel. The Dean of the Queen’s chapel will be giving a sermon during the service. The music will be provided by The Sixteen and Genesis Sixteen under the direction of Harry Christopher. The repertoire for this historical liturgy includes Thomas Tallis’ Magnificat, William Cornysh’s Salve Regina and John Taverner’s ‘Leroy’ Kyrie.

Before Vespers is celebrated, the Cardinal and Dean will be in conversation under the heading “Faith and the Crown” in the Great Hall of Hampton Court. The discussion will explore the relationship between the two churches and the monarchy. They will also talk about the role the Chapel Royal in maintaining elements of Catholic worship to the present day.

In the past, Sacred Music had played an important role as a bridge between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. We can see that in the live of faithful Catholic composers like Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Edward Elgar, etc.; these composers wrote liturgical music for both Churches. In the recent years, we have seen the Choir of Westminster Abbey singing Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with the Sistine Chapel Choir, and Pope Benedict XVI attending Evensong during his visit to the United Kingdom. Let us pray for the success of this Vespers and discussion. May God united us together through beautiful music and liturgies. Ut Omnes Unum Sint!

About Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers and music director at Our Lady of China Church. He is also an artist and vocal coach at the Paul Phoenix Academy.

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

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