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Views from the Choir Loft

Shortest “Kyrie” Palestrina Ever Wrote

Jeff Ostrowski · December 20, 2016

ACK IN 2013, I released a “simple plan” to improve music at Mass. In that article, I mentioned my belief that an a priori decision made after Vatican II—which eliminated the ancient praxis of simultaneous song & prayer—will someday be corrected. However, waiting for that day would be foolish; we must do our best with the current situation. As I’ve said before, the most “painless” way to introduce worthy music to the Ordinary Form (without irritating your pastor) is choral extensions, which embellish the music while still allowing congregational participation.

For the first few years, this will require polyphony that isn’t too long. Did you know Palestrina set entire litanies to polyphony? 1 The “Kyrie Eleison” from such works can be excerpted, and a simple plainsong melody can be sung by the congregation as shown here:

    * *  PDF Download • Shortest “Kyrie” Palestrina Ever Wrote

REHEARSAL VIDEOS for each individual voice—along with PDF score—await you at #6482. If you like them, please consider donating $5.00 per month.


Palestrina’s CANTUS FIRMUS is the litany melody, which you probably know by heart:

543 Litany


The chart below shows the clever way Palestrina mixes three polyphonic lines together—using beautiful invertible counterpoint—while still respecting the conventions of vertical harmony. (Yes, such horizontal rules did exist, in spite of assertions by some today.)

544 invertible counterpoint


Much ink has been spilled regarding problematic music introduced after the Second Vatican Council, and let’s not kid ourselves: the situation is dire. Too many musicians today rigidly refuse to be inclusive, eliminating from Mass practically everything composed before 1965.

My problem with many of today’s Catholic composers is their almost complete ignorance of counterpoint. I cannot understand why they excuse themselves from studying something considered essential by Marenzio, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, and every other great composer. The worst is when I read forums or magazines where contemporary composers bloviate about the rules of counterpoint. Then I peek at their compositions only to discover they haven’t the foggiest notion of authentic counterpoint—which cannot be faked.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   We recently posted about the complete works of Palestrina, which can be downloaded in their entirety online!

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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Jeff Ostrowski

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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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

Random Quote

Let us ponder the incontrovertible fact that Eucharistic Adoration in the Ordinary Form (“Novus Ordo”) is always and everywhere celebrated “ad orientem.” Why, then, is there such opposition to Mass being celebrated in that way, which is actually stipulated by the 1970 Missal rubrics?

— A Benedictine Monk (2013)

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