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Views from the Choir Loft

World Youth Day with polyphony and chant!

Christopher Mueller · April 12, 2016

WYD_Sydney Pilgrims at the 2008 World Youth Day, held in Sydney, Australia ANY of you know that World Youth Day is an event convened every 2-3 years, where high school and college-aged kids and young adults from all over the world gather in some large international city for a week, to celebrate Mass, meet the Pope (or at least be near him), and grow in their faith. This event is huge – millions of young people convene every time it happens! In fact, World Youth Day 1995 in Manila held the record for the largest-ever papal event, when over five million pilgrims gathered for Mass with Pope St. John Paul II. (That record was recently broken when Pope Francis celebrated a Mass for over six million people… in Manila!)

This summer World Youth Day will be held in Krakow, Poland, and I have the honor of having been invited to conduct all the music at the English-language Masses! There are so many English-speaking pilgrims that these Masses will be held in a giant stadium. There will be a morning Mass each day, for five consecutive days.

Additionally, my family, which sings polyphony and chant together as the Mueller Family Schola, has been invited to give a concert as one of the cultural events that take place each evening at this enormous gathering. And my wife and kids will not only be present for our concert, but they’ll be joining me to sing at all the Masses I’ll be conducting as well.

One of my goals is to incorporate polyphony and chant into every Mass. I think it would be amazing to set a kind of liturgical template that youth from all over the world would take back to their parishes. “We heard all this beautiful music at the Masses in Poland – can’t we have that same music at our own church?” I’ve been working closely with Dominican Friars from the United States and Poland as we carefully plan all these liturgies. And we expect a pretty big choir!

But here’s where I need your help:

In order to direct the wonderful music this July in Krakow, my family and I first have to get to Krakow. And so I’m asking if you would support our Kickstarter campaign, to help us raise enough funds to bring gorgeous polyphony, beautiful chant, and ourselves to Poland. We would be very grateful for your help, and we promise to pray for you unceasingly in our gratitude!

Thank you for your kind consideration and for your support —

Chris Mueller and the Mueller Family Schola

Please feel free to forward our campaign to anyone who may be interested. For more about the Mueller Family Schola, see our previous post on CCWatershed.

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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About Christopher Mueller

Christopher Mueller is a conductor and composer who aims to write beautiful music out of gratitude to God, Author of all beauty.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “What Martin Luther Said…”
    My pastor asked me to write little columns for the bulletin each week. The article for 20 July 2025 has been posted, and it’s called: “What Luther Said…” Martin Luther (an ex-priest and apostate) was an infamous heretic whose ignorance of JESUS CHRIST was only exceeded by his filthy and disgusting vulgarity.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“Before any seminarian is accepted for ordination, he must not only strive for chastity but actually achieve it. He must already be living chaste celibacy peacefully and for a prolonged period of time—for if this be lacking, the seminarian and his formators cannot have the requisite confidence that he is called to the celibate life.”

— Archbishop Viganò (16 February 2019)

Recent Posts

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  • “How to Conduct 90 Vespers Services Each Year and Live to Tell the Tale.”
  • 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

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