• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • Ordinary Form Feasts (Sainte-Marie)
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

Agnus Dei • “Missa Mille Regretz” by Fr. Cristóbal de Morales (d. 1553)

Jeff Ostrowski · October 3, 2017

OOKING AT MUSIC on the page is one thing, but hearing it real life is a different matter. I’ll never forget hearing Dr. Alfred Calabrese run through Guerrero’s KYRIE on the opening day of our very first Sacred Music Symposium. As a composer, I was in awe of what Guerrero had done: his grasp of musical DENSITY was life-changing. (No recording can capture this.)

These composers were aware of the overtone series, which is sometimes described as a series of “imaginary notes.” Let us consider an AGNUS DEI by Guerrero’s teacher, Fr. Cristóbal de Morales. The following recording—which I consider to be quite beautiful, especially for those familiar with this piece—was created by members of the volunteer choir I direct here at FSSP.la.

In measure 38, Tenors combine into unison on C—do you hear an imaginary girl’s voice singing a high G? (That’s a strong overtone.) Listen to the 1:31 marker:

REHEARSAL VIDEOS for each individual voice await you at #4297.
The full PDF score can be downloaded there.

Please download this Mp3, and listen to it carefully a billion times in your car:

    * *  Mp3 • AGNUS DEI (Part 3) from Missa Mille Regretz

    * *  PDF • AGNUS DEI (Part 3) from Missa Mille Regretz

…what a gorgeous piece!

THE FRATERNITY OF SAINT PETER in Los Angeles released a Promo Video celebrating the 10-year anniversary of “Summorum Pontificum.” The recording above was chosen as the soundtrack, and here’s a translation for the Chanson which Fr. Morales used as his melodic basis for Missa Mille Regretz:

Modern French:
Mille regrets de vous abandonner
et d’être éloigné de votre
visage amoureux.
J’ai si grand deuil
et peine douloureuse
qu’on me verra vite mourir.

English Translation:
A thousand regrets at deserting you
and leaving behind your loving face,
I feel so much sadness
and such painful distress,
that it seems to me my days
will soon dwindle away.

It’s fitting, in a way, because many priests I’ve asked about the 1960s reforms have expressed regret. When they opened up the new Missal for the first time (they explain) they saw that much of the beautiful symbolism and holy gestures of the ancient liturgy had been eliminated. As one bishop put it, “I knew it was gone for good.” Nobody at that time could have even hoped for something like “Summorum Pontificum.”

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    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

Random Quote

Palestrina wrote two Masses in honor of the Blessed Virgin—one “a 6” before the Council of Trent, consequently with the tropes, and first published in 1570. In 1599 it was republished in Palestrina “Missarum Liber III” with the tropes removed, and in their place the liturgical words of the “Gloria” reiterated.

— Henry Coates

Recent Posts

  • “How to Conduct 90 Vespers Services Each Year and Live to Tell the Tale.”
  • 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • The Tallis Scholars
  • Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
  • Pope Saint Paul VI to Consilium (14 October 1968)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

The election of Pope Leo XIV has been exciting, and we’re filled with hope for our apostolate’s future!

But we’re under pressure to transfer our website to a “subscription model.”

We don’t want to do that. We believe our website should remain free to all.

Our president has written the following letter:

President’s Message (dated 30 May 2025)

Are you able to support us?

clock.png

Time's up