Views from the Choir Loft

A Requiem on All Souls Day at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Richard J. Clark · October 27, 2017

EW YORK — Thursday, November 2, 2017 • 7:00 p. m. • Richard Kelley, trumpet, and I will team up again at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City in a concert of American composers Clark, Hovhaness, Pinkham, and Sowerby. In observing All Souls Day—Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, the featured work is my Requiem pour une américaine à Paris. The concert is free and open to the public.

Composed for trumpet and organ, this work is based on the Gregorian Chants of the Requiem Mass. It was directly inspired by the Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the 2012 Sacred Music Colloquium in Salt Lake City, Utah.

You can also listen to Richard Kelley and I talk about the upcoming concert with Dr. Jennifer Pascual, Director of Music for Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, on her program Sounds from the Spires. The show will air this Saturday and Sunday on SIRIUSXM 129 Radio, The Catholic Channel: Saturday, 11pm-12am, Sunday, 6am-7am and 8pm-9pm (All Eastern times)

Richard Kelley, trumpet, has been a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and plays with the Boston Pops. He has performed with artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Ray Charles, Steven Tyler, and James Taylor. He can be heard on a variety of recordings including the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning soundtrack to Disney’s Pocahontas and Stephen Paulus’ Grammy-nominated Concerto for Two Trumpets and Band.

“The career of trumpeter Richard Kelley is not only a testament to the versatility of his instrument, but also to the ability of one individual to excel across the broadest possible range of music.” — Brian McCreath, WCRB

HE CONCERT FEATURES feature two works composed specifically for Richard Kelley: Pinkham’s Scenes and Requiem pour une américaine à Paris. Recorded by Kelley and Clark, Requiem has been featured on SiriusXM’s Sounds from the Spires, various radio programs around the US, and will be performed at Saint-Eustache in Paris in 2018.

Requiem – Order CD
Requiem – Order from iTunes

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

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

“Music List” • 19th in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (10 August 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the feasts website.

—Jeff Ostrowski

This Sunday’s Communion Antiphon

This coming Sunday—10 August 2025—is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). The COMMUNION ANTIPHON is really gorgeous, and two of its features are worth mentioning. First of all, the Gospel reading assigned is from Saint Luke, whereas the the antiphon—although it matches the account—comes from Saint Matthew. (If anyone can point to a similar example, please notify me.) Furthermore, if you look at the authentic Gregorian Chant version posted on the feasts website, you’ll notice that it’s MODE III but ends on the ‘wrong’ note. A comparable instance of such a ‘transposed’ chant would be KYRIE IV.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Using “Ye” Vs. “You” Correctly

Using “Ye” vs. “You” is rather tricky, because it depends upon which era one is trying to recreate—if that makes any sense. In other words, the rules haven’t always been the same for these two. Nevertheless, Father Philip George Caraman (the legendary Jesuit scholar) gives us a masterclass using Saint Luke’s Gospel. Father Caraman was close friends with Monsignor Ronald Knox, Evelyn Waugh, and Sir Alec Guinness.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Pope Pius XII Hymnal?

Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Hybrid” Chant Notation?

Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).

—Corpus Christi Watershed