Views from the Choir Loft

Theodore Marier • “Good Hymns for Worship” (1957)

Corpus Christi Watershed · September 8, 2017

HEODORE N. MARIER (d. 2001) graduated from Boston College in 1934, and stayed on to become director of the Musical Clubs and a lecturer on music until the Second World War. Also in 1934, he began his work at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Harvard Square, which lasted for 50 years. His musical interest in the Catholic liturgy encompassed the organ, publishing, the schola cantorum, and polyphony, but always remained centered on Gregorian Chant and the active participation of the congregation.

A reader kindly sent us these transcripts from the “Catholic Music Hour” (September 1957):

* * PDF Download • “Introduction”

* * PDF Download • “Polyphony Old and New”

* * PDF Download • “Good Hymns for Better Worship”

* * PDF Download • “Music in the Mass”

An excerpt:

Without question, the best description of Dr. Theodore Marier is this article on his life written by Very Rev. Robert A. Skeris in 2001.

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

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