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Views from the Choir Loft

The New Way of the “Sistina”

Andrew Leung · September 21, 2017

CTL The New Way of the Sistina HE POPE’S CHOIR is currently on a concert tour in the USA. They have performed in New York City last weekend and they just finished their visit to Washington, DC; their next appearance will be at the Detroit Opera House this coming Saturday. I recently received an email from Msgr. Massimo Palombella with some comments on my previous post. In the email, the Maestro introduced and explained to me the choir’s new way of singing.

I am sure that many of our readers have noticed that the Sistine Chapel Choir, under the direction of Maestro Palombella, has radically changed their way of singing in recent years. He said that they have moved from the 19th century operatic tone to a Renaissance tone with coherent phrasing and an attempt to create an aesthetic relevant to the material they are singing. The papal choir has been trying to recreate this “Renaissance tone”, which Msgr. Palombella has done extensive research on and studied many manuscripts. He explains:

This vocal technique does not incorporate the third register and therefore requires a very covered, precise tone, but with all that Mediterranean warmth that we Italians have in our tone… I believe that Renaissance music is a synthesis of rhetorical devices, tension and release that requires continuous use of the messa di voce technique. It is in and of itself a very lively music.

Now, the choir gives much attention to the text whenever they sing, which is believed to be the practice during the High Renaissance. Their recent “conversion” was so significant that it caught the attention of Deutsche Grammophon, which led to the recording of the CD, Cantate Domino, in 2015. And here is how the Renaissance tone of the Sistine Chapel Choir sound like!

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 Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

23 May 2022 • FEEDBACK

From a reader: “I wasn’t looking for it. But, I stumbled across your hand-dandy arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon. Jeff, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread! I had to play a wedding on Saturday. The bride requested the Canon. There were 11 bridesmaids! The organ loft is a football field away from the communion rail. It’s so difficult to play and keep checking the mirror. Your arrangement is absolutely genius. One can skip and choose which variations to use. The chord names are handy so that when my eyes are off the music, I always know where I am at. A thousand times thank you for sharing this arrangement!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
19 May 2022 • “Trochee Trouble”

I’m still trying to decide how to visually present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores, using what is (technically) the official rhythm of the Church. You can download my latest attempt, for this coming Sunday. Notice the “trochee trouble” as well as the old issue of neumes before the quilisma.

—Jeff Ostrowski
16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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“To me nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Masses for ever, and not be tired.”

— John Henry Cardinal Newman (1848)

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