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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

“Tantum Ergo” • Eleven (11) Harmonizations

Jeff Ostrowski · April 8, 2016

580 MONSTRANCE F YOU WERE FORCED TO SIT DOWN and take an examination—from memory only—do you think you could write out a literal translation of the “Tantum Ergo,” which you have undoubtedly sung zillions of times for Benediction? If not, download this:

    * *  PDF • TANTUM ERGO (Congregational)

If you have a really good organist—one who doesn’t hit wrong notes and doesn’t slow down the tempo when they struggle with the pedals—give them this accompaniment:

    * *  PDF • TANTUM ERGO (Organ Accompaniment)

If your organist is still learning, consider the version found in the ORGAN EDITION of the Saint Edmund Campion Hymnal:

    * *  PDF • TANTUM ERGO (Campion Hymnal, Organist Edition)

Here are nine (9) more versions, but be careful—the melodies don’t always match perfectly the version found in the Campion Hymnal:

    * *  PDF • TANTUM ERGO (Nine More Versions)

Look how Fr. Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923) presents this beautiful hymn, and notice how he prefers “u” instead of “v” in Latin:

    * *  PDF • TANTUM ERGO (Rev. Fortescue)

If you haven’t seen the way BENEDICTION is presented in the Jogues Illuminated Missal, I would encourage you to do so. It’s gorgeous, and includes both Latin & English.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Hymn Tune St Thomas, Organ Accompaniments, Tantum Ergo Sacramentum 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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Quick Thoughts

16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book

If there is a more beautiful book than Abbat Pothier’s 1888 Processionale Monasticum, I don’t know what it might be. This gorgeous tome was today added to the Saint John Lalande Online Library. I wish I owned a physical copy.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

To the extent that the new sacred music is to serve the liturgical celebrations of the various churches, it can and must draw from earlier forms — especially from Gregorian chant — a higher inspiration, a uniquely sacred quality, a genuine sense of what is religious.

— Pope John Paul II (June 1980)

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