Corpus Christi Watershed

Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

Views from the Choir Loft

Report • Hong Kong Summer Choral Workshops

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HAVEN’T BEEN POSTING too much lately and I apologize for that. I have been very busy with the following workshops. In August, I conducted two Summer Choral Workshops for church singers in Hong Kong. The workshops were about six hours long and about fifty singers participated. Participants were introduced to traditional sacred music, both Gregorian chant and polyphony, of the Catholic Church. Both workshops were concluded with Sung Masses in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Here are some pictures from the workshops and the Masses

CTL Hong Kong Summer Choral Workshop 9 CTL Hong Kong Summer Choral Workshop 8 CTL Hong Kong Summer Choral Workshop 7 CTL Hong Kong Summer Choral Workshop 6 CTL Hong Kong Summer Choral Workshop 5 CTL Hong Kong Summer Choral Workshop 4 CTL Hong Kong Summer Choral Workshop 3 CTL Hong Kong Summer Choral Workshop 2 CTL Hong Kong Summer Choral Workshop 1


LEARNED A LOT in this workshop through teaching and it was amazing to be able to work with church singers in Hong Kong again (I did a similar workshop last summer). A lot of the participants come from regular parish choirs, and most of them don’t have the chance to sing chant and polyphony in a regular basis. It was definitely an unforgettable experience for many to be able to sing choral pieces by European masters like: Tallis, Byrd, Allegri, Rheinberger and Faure. We were also very grateful to Dr. Peter Kwasniewski for allowing us to use his setting of Tantum Ergo during one of the workshops.

Here is a recording of Gregorio Allegri’s Adoremus in Aeternum, which we sang during communion on the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. Keep in mind that participants rarely get the opportunity to sing pieces like this and the recordings never do justice to the actual sound. The piece is fairly simple, especially for small church choirs, and is suitable to be sung during communion and Eucharistic adoration. It is available for free download on Choral Public Domain Library.

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

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