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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • Rare Hymnal by Organist at the Birmingham Oratory (1913)

Jeff Ostrowski · October 24, 2016

726 Samuel Gregory Ould Hymnal ILLIAM SEWELL was organist and choirmaster about 100 years ago at the Birmingham Oratory. In 1913, he collaborated with Benedictine FATHER SAMUEL GREGORY OULD to produce a hymnal.  Ould—a chant enthusiast who converted to the “Mocquereau method”—served as chaplain to the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre, located in Boreham (a village in Essex, England).

Peter Meggison had a copy of this extremely rare hymnal, and Watershed scanned it:

    * *  PDF • LONDON BOOK OF HYMNS (572 pages)

The most interesting pages are toward the end. You will find SATB settings of the Rosary, which would surely require hours to pray!

YOU WILL ALSO FIND a setting of Newman’s “Lead, Kindly Light” (one I’ve never seen before) which is interesting because the cardinal lived at that place. You will find a section with “Hymns for Low Mass”—typical at the time—including a setting of the CREED and OUR FATHER sung to one note. Most interesting to me, however, are the plainsong accompaniments, such as the Missa de Angelis setting:

724 Organ Masses


Father Gregory Ould (1865-1939) also edited splendid & clever interludes based upon Gregorian themes:

    * *  PDF Download • The Latin Organist (65 pages)

According to Thomas Muir, Fr. Ould left several “massive volumes of manuscript plainchant accompaniments” at the New Hall archives in Essex.

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Jean de Brebeuf Hymnal, Roman Catholic Hymnals Last Updated: March 27, 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

“From the responses received, it is thus clear that by far the greater number of bishops feel that the present discipline [Communion on the tongue and not in the hand] should not be changed at all—indeed, that if it were changed, this would be offensive to the sensibility and spiritual appreciation of these bishops and of most of the faithful.”

— Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship (29 May 1969)

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