Views from the Choir Loft

Chants for the Feast of the Transfiguration

Jeff Ostrowski · August 2, 2017

F YOU SCROLL towards the bottom of St. René Goupil, you will notice that scores and audio files for the Feast of the Transfiguration have been added (6 August).

Here is a sample:

The rest of this post deals with the ending of the Communion antiphon.

The Communion antiphon (“Visiónem quam vidístis”) is identical to a Magnificat antiphon, except for one note:

4779 Feast of the Transfiguration

At first, it seemed a typo, since the Vatican Edition of the Antiphonale appeared several years after the Graduale.

Further examination, however, shows that some manuscripts only have the punctum:

…while other manuscripts have the podatus:

Dom Mocquereau’s 1903 Liber Usualis has a podatus:

4773 Mocquereau 1903

Abbot Pothier’s 1891 Liber Gradualis has a punctum:

Pothier’s 1896 Liber Usualis has the punctum for the Magnificat antiphon:

4773 1896 Pothier

…but the selfsame book (Pothier’s 1896 Liber Usualis) uses the podatus for the Communion antiphon:

4773 Pothier was well 1896

Using the search function to quickly find “visionem” in the NOH shows how the composers provided a completely different harmonization both times:

* * 2,279 pages of Harmonized Plainsong

For the record, the NOH has a typo in the Communion antiphon:

Never have I encountered so many typos in one feast! Yesterday, I spoke of a typo in the Introit that desperately needed correction.

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