Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “Compline for Sunday”

Jeff Ostrowski · April 23, 2017

IFTY YEARS AFTER the Second Vatican Council, they are still working on completing the chant books containing the revised “post-conciliar” Breviary. I believe this is one reason Pope Benedict XVI gave every Latin Rite priest permission to fulfill his obligation with the 1962 Breviary: fifty years is just a totally unacceptable period of time. (Several very smart people have told me it will never be completed.)

Speaking of the 1962 Divine Office, we have been asked to sing Compline after Mass tonight. As quickly as possible, I put together the following booklet for the choir. Changes were made to 1957 Compline in 1961. I have tried to take those alterations into consideration, but please let me know about any errors I have made. My ignorance about the 1962 Divine Office is profound!

* * PDF Download • Sunday Compline “Eastertide” (1962)

We used the “Te lucis ante terminum” melody my choir knows; the same chosen by Palestrina in the Mass we sing. We are allowed to substitute this melody under the same provisions that allow—for example—using a modern setting of the “Te lucis ante terminum.” Indeed, many parishes use the common tone all year long.

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

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).

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