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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “Latin in the New Liturgy” (1976)

Jeff Ostrowski · February 22, 2016

730 Latin in the New Liturgy NE OF OUR longtime readers sent in a book from 1976 I’d never seen before by Dr. Richard Richens, who helped found the Association for Latin Liturgy 1 in Great Britain:

    * *  PDF Download • R. H. Richens (16 pages)

It’s quite short, but powerful and—even better—it’s fun to read. The section about Hebrew at the Last Supper explains a point I’ve tried to make for a long time, but does so with eloquence (not my strong suit).

Some excerpts:

HE BISHOPS OF ENGLAND AND WALES have put forward their views on Latin on several occasions. In 1966 they said that “every encouragement should be given to reciting or saying of the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin, on those occasions when it is possible, fitting and convenient. Definite steps must be taken to see that knowledge of the Latin Mass is not lost.” Later, in 1969—after the new order of Mass had been introduced—they said: “the use of Latin in celebrating the new Mass Rite will be encouraged as it has been in the old; Latin expresses the nature of the Church as international and timeless.”

The musical settings of the Latin text of the Roman rite are—by common consent of all musical critics, and confirmed by any issue of the Radio Times—one of the supreme creative achievements of mankind. They constitute the largest body of high-quality music in existence. […] Though plainchant has suffered many vicissitudes—including its re-styling by the Franks and the corruption of the tradition in the post-Tridentine period—it remains a supreme expression of worship and fully deserving the special place the Second Vatican Council accorded to it.

The Latin liturgy is the birth place of all our modern music. The art of combining voices, pioneered by the English composer Dunstable, is one of the outstanding permanent legacies of the Middle Ages. By the sixteenth century, musical settings for the Latin liturgy had been composed that still rank amongst the major musical works of the world. Palestrina and Victoria, whose Latin Church music is their major contribution, would be included in any list of the greatest musical composers. English writers were also notable, and one of these, William Byrd, could arguably be regarded as the greatest writer of liturgical music of all time and the greatest English composer in any form. His five-part Mass was sung in St. Peter’s, Rome, at the canonization of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. […] In the last century, when composers tended to forsake religious music, Liszt and Bruckner produced Latin Church music of the highest quality. The present century has not been behind the others, and the music of Poulenc in France and Berkeley in England compares with the best that has gone before.

Here’s a section that jumped out at me:

Yet how can a congregation today participate in a Latin Mass to the extent that the Council clearly requires? There are some practical difficulties, mainly because publishers—preoccupied with vernacular texts—have failed so far to provide adequate aids, bilingual Sunday Mass books, Latin-English Mass leaflets, and the like. Time and demand will solve these.

Dr. Richens would have been pleased to discover the Jogues Illuminated Missal:

728 St. Isaac Jogues Illuminated Missal, Lectionary, & Gradual


The JOGUES is a book for the pews—i.e. the congregation—which allows any priest to use as much or as little Latin as may be desired for Masses in the Ordinary Form. The special layout helps the “average” Catholic feel at home.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   To learn more about the “Association for Latin Liturgy,” click here.

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download 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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Alabama Assessment!

We received this evaluation of Symposium 2022 from an Alabama participant:

“Oh, how the Symposium echoed the words of Cardinal Merry Del Val: …choosing only what is most conformed to Thy glory, which is my final aim. In one short and fast paced week, the faculty and attendees showed me the hand of God and our Lady working in our lives. The wide range of education—from Gregorian Chant, jazz modes in organ improvisation, to ‘staying sane’ while leading a choir—were certainly first-class knowledge from the best teachers of the art. However, the most powerful lesson was learning how to pray as a choir. The sacrifice of putting songs together, taking time to learn the sacred text, meditating on the church teaching through the chants, and gaining the virtues required to persevere in these duties were not only qualities of a choir but of a saint. The sanctification of the lives of the attendees was a beautiful outcome of this event … and that in itself is worth more than a beautifully-sung Solesmes style chant!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
PDF Download • Trinity Sunday (22 pages)

Feel free to download this Organ Accompaniment Booklet for Trinity Sunday (Second Vespers). Notice how the modes progress by number. Psalm 1 is mode 1; Psalm 2 is mode 2; Psalm 3 is mode 3; Psalm 4 is mode 4; Psalm 5 is mode 5. I am told by an expert that other feasts (such as Corpus Christi) are likewise organized by mode, and it’s called a “numerical office.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
10 June 2022 • “Official” rhythm of plainsong

I continue to search for the most beautiful way to present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores. (Technically, the “pure” rhythm of the official edition is what everyone is supposed to use.) You can download my latest attempt, which is the Introit for this coming Sunday: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is not an ancient feast, the Introit had to be adapted (perhaps around 750AD). Prior Johner says the adaptation is “not an entirely happy one.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Only against this background, of the effective denial of the authority of Trent, can one understand the bitterness of the struggle against allowing the celebration of Mass according to the 1962 Missal after the liturgical reform. The possibility of so celebrating constitutes the strongest, and thus (for them) the most intolerable contradiction of the opinion of those who believe that the faith in the Eucharist, as formulated by Trent, has lost its validity.”

— Cardinal Ratzinger, 2001

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