Views from the Choir Loft

The longest 54 seconds in a Missa Cantata

Veronica Brandt · December 30, 2016

HE LONG SILENCE. Were you supposed to start singing already, or is something else about to happen first? It is the time just after the Lord’s Prayer while everyone is waiting to start the Agnus Dei at a Vetus Ordo / Extraordinary Form sung Latin Mass. That wait between Sed libera nos a malo until the Per omnia saecula saeculorum. It is so tempting to start the Agnus Dei to fill in the silence, but hopefully that’s a mistake you don’t make more than once.

Starting to take care of the music for a sung Latin Mass can be daunting. There is a handy book available called Psallite Sapienter. It’s not a completely authoritative work – you will find there are all sorts of variations among different priests and musicians, but it does give a good starting point. It’s available printed by Lulu and also as a free pdf download from musicasacra.com.

May your 2017 be full of new adventures, not least in the pursuit of sacred music!

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

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About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

19 January 2021 • Confusion over feasts

For several months, we have discussed the complicated history of the various Christmas feasts: the Baptism of the Lord, the feast of the Holy Family, the Epiphany, and so forth. During a discussion, someone questioned my assertion that in some places Christmas had been part of the Epiphany. As time went on, of course, the Epiphany came to represent only three “manifestations” (Magi, Cana, Baptism), but this is not something rigid. For example, if you look at this “Capital E” from the feast of the Epiphany circa 1350AD, you can see it portrays not three mysteries but four—including PHAGIPHANIA when Our Lord fed the 5,000. In any event, anyone who wants proof the Epiphany used to include Christmas can read this passage from Dom Prosper Guéranger.

—Jeff Ostrowski

6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski

2 January 2021 • Temptation

When I see idiotic statements made on the internet, I go nuts. When I see heretics promoted by people who should know better, I get angry. Learning to ignore such items is difficult—very difficult. I try to remember the words of Fr. Valentine Young: “Do what God places in front of you each day.” When I am honest, I don’t believe God wants me to dwell on errors and idiocy; there’s nothing I can do about that. During 2021, I will strive to do a better job following the advice of Fr. Valentine.

—Jeff Ostrowski