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Views from the Choir Loft

Greatest Church Music Book Ever Written?

Jeff Ostrowski · September 12, 2016

126 Paul Hume CATHOLIC CHURCH MUSIC OMETIMES PEOPLE want to know the greatest book on Catholic church music ever written. Many say it’s the 1907 volume by Sir Richard R. Terry, and there’s no denying it’s a good read. Others might mention books by Karl Gustav Fellerer or William Mahrt—and there are many others from which to choose.

For myself, I’d be tempted to cite the 1956 book CATHOLIC CHURCH MUSIC by Paul Hume.

Here’s a sample chapter:

    * *  Chapter IV: • THE PROBLEM OF HYMNS

Paul Hume (1915-2001) served as music editor for the Washington Post from 1946 to 1982, and was once sent a famous piece of hate mail by President Truman after Hume criticized the singing technique of the president’s daughter.

A friend of mine sent me a Google link to the entire book 1 (out-of-print for decades), which was originally published by a defunct company that went out existence in 1990. You can download the entire book, but please exercise caution—you won’t be able to stop reading! Paul Hume is a fantastic wordsmith, and anyone who reads our blog is in love with the subject matter, needless to say.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   By the way, the book’s Preface is by Rev’d Francis Guentner (1917-2013), a famous church musician who studied theology at St. Mary’s College in Kansas. That college—formerly owned by the Jesuits—now belongs to the SSPX, and I’m told the entire property was sold to them for a dollar. (That’s what I was told, but who knows if it’s true.)

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 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

    Don’t You Agree About These?
    If you want to make Jeff Ostrowski really happy, send him an email with effusive praise about the individual voice recordings for hymn #296. [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass] They came out dazzlingly sensational, don't you agree?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Choral Vowels? Yes? No?
    Here's a live recording of one of the choral “warm-up” exercises my choir enjoys. It was taken during our rehearsal on 27 January 2023. It’s good to make sure each chord is perfectly in tune and balanced before moving to the next one. That only happens when each singer has the correct vowel. If you like, you can freely download that vocal exercise.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    26 January 2023 • FEEDBACK
    “Jeff, I wanted to personally thank you for your spiritual witness at the Symposium & often blogs that you write too. Praying that prayer in the mornings My God, my Father and my all (by Cardinal Merry Del Val), mentioning saints’ stories of Brébeuf, Jogues, John Vianney, monks who fought in WWII, their hard work in spite of terrible conditions, their relentless zeal for the faith, their genuine love for the laypeople they served, etc. Overall though—more than anything concrete I can point to that you did or said—it was your demeanor at the Symposium. I could tell you really absolutely love and believe the Catholic Faith. You don’t get that everywhere, even in Church circles. And your humility is what then makes that shine even brighter. It is super inspiring! God is working through you probably way more than you know.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

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The Sacrifice is celebrated with many solemn rites, none of which should be deemed useless or superfluous. On the contrary, all of them tend to display the majesty of this august sacrifice, and to excite the faithful, when beholding these saving mysteries, to contemplate the divine things which lie concealed in the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

— Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566)

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