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Views from the Choir Loft

The Chapel Royal Solemn Vespers is Available on BBC

Andrew Leung · April 1, 2016

CTL Chapel Royal Vespers BOUT TWO MONTHS AGO, the first Catholic liturgies in 450 years was held in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace. The choral Vespers according to the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite was celebrated by Vincent Cardinal Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, on February 9. Even though February 9 is not a Marian feast day, the Vespers was dedicated to our Blessed Mother. Over 300 people attended the service.

The music was provided by one of the best choirs in the world, the Sixteen, directed by Harry Christophers. The liturgy was celebrated mainly in Latin (You would think that an ecumenical service with the Anglican Church must be in English, but no! It was in Latin except for the homily, the intercessions and collects.) and the Psalms were chanted with organ accompaniment. The recording of the service is now available on BBC’s Choral Evensong until the end of April.

I am filled with joy to see the Roman Catholic Church and Church of England being united together through music and prayer. There is one interesting thing I noticed about the music selection: Taverner, Cornysh and Tallis are all early English composers who were living during Henry VIII’s reign. The music was truly beautiful, angelic and uplifting! Here is what the cardinal and a few other participants of the choral Vespers have to say about the service and the music:



Let us continue to pray, especially through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Church, for the unity of Christ’s body.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Andrew Leung

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.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

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

“During Lent…the use of musical instruments is allowed only so as to support the singing. Nevertheless, Laetare Sunday (the Fourth Sunday of Lent), Solemnities and Feasts are exceptions to this rule.”

— ‘Roman Missal, 3rd Edition (2011)’

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