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Views from the Choir Loft

Intensely Powerful • “Requiem” Production (FSSP)

Jeff Ostrowski · April 7, 2017

By way of the FSSP blog in North America, we received this electrifying news:


From the press release:

Fr. Gerard Saguto, North American FSSP Superior, who also sang on REQUIEM, explains that the daily responsibilities of the priests entail shepherding its flock’s greatest joys and its deepest sorrows: from a marriage in the morning to a funeral in the afternoon. Saint Augustine’s sense of the sacred was a beauty “ever ancient, ever new.” This beautiful work—ancient, yet made anew whenever he and his confreres sing it—serves as a message of hope.

Click this image for all the details:


Excellent polyphonic works by Palestrina and Giovanni Battista Martini (one of Mozart’s teachers) are included along with traditional plainsong:

1. Antiphon Exsultábunt Dómino with Psalm 50
2. Tolling of the Bell
3. Responsory Subveníte Sancti Dei
4. Introit Réquiem ætérnam
5. Kýrie eléison
6. Gradual Réquiem ætérnam
7. Tract Absólve Dómine
8. Sequence Dies iræ
9. Offertory Dómine, Jesu Christe
10. Sanctus
11. Agnus Dei
12. Communion antiphon Lux ætérna
13. Responsory Líbera me
14. Antiphon In paradísum
15. Antiphon Ego sum with the Canticle of Zachary
16. Responsory Qui Lázarum
17. Responsory Dómine quando véneris
18. Responsory Peccántem me
19. Pie Jesu Dómine
20. Réquiem ætérnam

The program notes (SEE ABOVE) say that Fr. Zachary Akers currently serves as music director for the Fraternity in North America, which I did not realize. I’m proud to say he is an old friend of my brother, Mark. Fr. Akers visited our community in October, as these photographs show.

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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt

Random Quote

“However well equipped and trained a choir may be, all its good points may be obscured by an unsuitable accompaniment. In fact the organist can, in a large measure, either make or mar his choir. It must be owned, however, that the accompanist of Plainsong has to contend with many difficulties. […] The purist will still find his best enjoyment of the chant when it is sung unaccompanied, but to most a becoming accompaniment gives an added charm.”

— Benedictines of Stanbrook (1905)

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “Gospel Acclamation” for 29 June (Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles)
  • “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
  • Available! • Free Rehearsal Videos for Agnus Dei “Mille Regretz” after Gombert (d. 1560)
  • Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
  • PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III

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