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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Brace Yourself • “Raw” Recordings from Solemn Mass

Jeff Ostrowski · April 25, 2017

OSEF HOFMANN never cared much about recordings. We hear his playing mainly from “pirated” recordings—made without his knowledge—or from “test pressings” which end abruptly in the middle of a piece. It matters not; I’d rather hear one trill by Hofmann than everything Claudio Arrau ever recorded. Something remarkable happens when people don’t realize they’re being recorded. Yesterday, a generous lady posted some snippets of a Solemn High Mass that took place last Sunday. This was at the new FSSP Apostolate in Los Angeles. The singing was by our volunteer Latin Mass choir!

Eastertide Alleluia (before Gospel) with a setting by Victoria:


A live snippet from the procession:


Palestrina’s setting of the Sanctus:


A live snippet of the “Vidi Aquam,” intoned by Fr. Gerard Saguto, our District Superior:


The Sung “Confiteor,” before the Reception of Holy Communion. 1


Organ interlude during the Offertory:


The lovely setting of “O Filii et Filiae” by Msgr. Jules Van Nuffel:


Snippet of the “Agnus Dei” by Guillaume Du Fay (d. 1474) using the same CANTUS FIRMUS as the Alleluia by Victoria (see above):


The microphones never do justice to the choral sound. For example, listen to how the ladies sound in the following clip, from Viadan’s GLORIA. I was there. I can assure you sounded 50 billion times more glorious in real life. This recording does not accurately represent the choral sound. I was there.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Fr. Ronald Krisman, formerly Executive Director of the Bishops’ Liturgy Committee, has asserted that the “Prayers at the Foot of the Altar” were sung in the Traditional Mass, but he’s incorrect. The “Prayers at the Foot of the Altar” were never sung. The only time the “Confíteor” is sung is prior to the distribution of Holy Communion.

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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

For the Upcoming Choir Season!

Last week, I posted an SATB choral setting of the SANCTUS in a ‘contemporary’ style. You might want to consider this piece for two reasons: (1) It’s extremely brief; (2) Free rehearsal videos are available for each individual part. The piece is by Father Lhoumeau.

—Jeff Ostrowski
PDF Download • “Sunday Vespers” (22 pages)

When an organist accompanies Vespers, there is no time to think. It’s one thing after another: Bam – Bam – Bam. And that’s what makes Vespers difficult to accompany; there’s hardly even time to check the key signature for each piece! Therefore, although it’s far from perfect, I’m releasing this 22-page booklet:

PDF Download • SUNDAY VESPERS ACCOMPANIMENT

As time goes on, I will explain why I believe this booklet is important, my hopes for it, and why I selected the official edition, directly from the Vesperale Romanum. In spite of its imperfections, creating this (draft) booklet required much more effort than I had anticipated.

—Jeff Ostrowski
11 July 2022 • FEEDBACK

Someone who heard the CCW plainsong recordings with NOH accompaniment says: “For years I have travelled the continents and crossed the oceans of Gregorian chant in search of a composition and interpretation as sublime as this. The text and the melody are interwoven in a game of mirrors with the interpreters, the singer and the instrumentalist, so as to confer delicacy on the jubilation. The organ is soft, humble. This is what we hear from the singer. These artists have come together to produce beauty. In 1903, Pope Pius X, by motu proprio, restored Gregorian chant in the Latin Church. In his words: Sacred music must possess, to an eminent degree, the qualities proper to the liturgy, and notably the sanctity and delicacy of form, whence another characteristic spontaneously results, universality. I stress: the holiness and delicacy of forms result in universality, time and place. That is to say, sometimes the beauty of human hands gently caresses the face of the Eternal.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

The claim that the bishop or the priest originally celebrated “versus populum” is a legend, which Otto Nussbaum (d. 1999) originally did a great deal to spread.

— Dr. Helmut Hoping (University of Freiburg)

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