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.

About Jeff Ostrowski

A theorist, organist, and conductor, Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004), and did graduate work in Musicology. He serves as choirmaster for the new FSSP parish in Los Angeles, where he resides with his wife and children.

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski