Views from the Choir Loft

New English Hymnal • Voice-Leading

Jeff Ostrowski · November 7, 2017

ONSTANT CRITICS are deleterious and corrosive. The internet is full of people who find fault with everything. That being said, in the past we’ve sometimes pointed out errors in the Solesmes books—e.g. here and here—to show that even the very best make mistakes. Realizing this, we obtain the strength necessary to avoid paralysis.

Consider this page from the New English Hymnal:

4022 New English Hymnal Parallel Fifths

This is not very good voice leading, folks. They should have stuck with the harmonization in Woodward’s book. Yet, that’s one of the best hymnals.

IT IS IMPORTANT to point out and praise musicians who are accomplishing nice things. Consider what Mr. Jacob Flaherty has been up to:

* * Article • Palestrina’s Missa Aeterna Christi Munera

The video excerpts (which I wish were available on YouTube) sound very good. And if the recordings sound good, the real life sound must have been marvelous, as we’ve discussed.

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

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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

30 November 2020 • “Case in point”

The Solesmes rhythmic markings, which often contradict the official rhythm, do such damage to the antiphons of the Divine Office that—in my humble opinion—they should be abandoned. (In reality, this will never happen.) But sometimes, they do great damage to the melody of the Graduale Romanum, and I would offer the Offertory for the 1st Sunday of Advent as a “case in point.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

27 November 2020 • ACCENTS

Certain Latin words are constantly mispronounced. For example, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is supposed to be pronounced “Cármina” but people frequently pronounce it as “Carmína”—wrong! Another example: Nova organi harmonia is supposed to be pronounced “órgani” but many people erroneously say “orgáni.” A somewhat tricky word is incipit. In Latin, it would be “íncipit” while some believe it has entered the English language as “incípit”—but I’m not convinced…

—Jeff Ostrowski

20 November 2020 • Epiphany Sequence?

A very interesting Missale from 1759AD has a Sequence for the Epiphany, but I don’t know where one could find the musical notation. The Seqence is called: “Prompto Gentes Animo Ferte Nunc Altissimo Honorem Et Gloriam.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

There is a lack of that kind of organization which favors mature judgment. Move on, move on, get it out. Schemata are multiplied without ever arriving at a considered form. The system of discussion is bad … Often the schemata arrive just before the discussions. Sometimes, and in important matters, such as the new anaphoras, the schema was distributed the evening before the discussion was to take place … Father Bugnini has only one interest: press ahead and finish.

— Cardinal Antonelli (Peritus during the Second Vatican Council)