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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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    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    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

Random Quote

We cannot exaggerate our indebtedness to Dr. Julian’s “Dictionary of Hymnology,” a monumental work, without which we could not have reached the high standard of accuracy, as to both texts and authorship, which we set before us when entering upon our labours.

— Committee for “New English Hymnal” (1906)

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