Views from the Choir Loft

My Recent Discovery

Andrew Leung · June 9, 2016

INCE JEFF AND DR. TAPPAN both shared about musical repertoire for choirs, I thought it would be nice to share my recent discovery at this time. About a month ago, I discovered a choral setting of Ave Verum Corpus by Philip Stopford on Facebook. This discovery led me to explore other choral works by the British composer and I am very impressed by his compositions!

Philip Stopford is an English sacred music choral composer and choir director. He is known for his contemporary a capella and accompanied settings of traditional Latin and English prayers and hymns. Personally, I enjoy his a capella pieces more than the accompanied ones. I think Stopford is very gifted in writing melodies and he arranges the voicing very effectively.

Mr. Stopford began his musical career as a chorister at Westminster Abbey. He went on to Oxford University to study music at Kelbe College. He has held positions at Truro Cathedral, Chester Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral and St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast. Currently, Stopford is the music director of Christ Church Bronxville, NY. His works appeared in the Classical FM Hall of Fame in 2013 and 2014.

Here are three pieces by Stopford:

1. Ave Verum sung by Melisma

2. Do Not Be Afraid sung by Melisma

3. Te Deum sung by the Choir of St Polycarp’s Parish Church in Belfast

I hope you enjoyed his pieces. You can find videos of his works on his Youtube channel.

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

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).

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