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Views from the Choir Loft

Advent Piece for 2 Voices

Jeff Ostrowski · December 11, 2017

ICHAEL Praetorius (d. 1621) was a German organist and composer. A female high school sophomore—from St. Monica Academy—sent me a video she produced:

The young lady wrote:

HIS PAST JUNE, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the FSSP.la Sacred Music Symposium. I want to take the time to thank you for the morning lecture series you gave on creating multi-track recordings. In hopes of promoting correct liturgical music and preserving the Catholic traditions of Advent, I, together with my college-age sister, selected four Advent pieces for an Advent caroling party hosted by our family. One of the pieces, the obscure two-voice Praetorius hymn “Vergente mundi vespere,” was quite difficult to find rehearsal resources for. The public-domain PDF file took my sister quite a bit of research to find, and I could find no recordings of the hymn being sung. As such, I resolved to create my own rehearsal video, armed with the knowledge I gained from your classes at the Symposium.

I now understand how much work it is to record and produce such a video! The short piece, under a minute in length, took me many hours to sightread and record correctly. It is nowhere near perfect, but I am pleased with the result—one that would definitely never have been attained were it not for your expert guidance during the Symposium in the ways of creating multi-track recordings!

Thank you for your tireless work in promoting beautiful sacred music and preserving our Catholic culture.

This bright young lady, whose writing is every bit as excellent as her singing, makes reference to a special music conference hosted each year by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in Los Angeles [FSSP.la].

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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Jeff Ostrowski

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).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

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

Random Quote

“Been to Catholic church and heard Mass. Execrable music! Organ played by a young girl who made impossible harmonies. Sermon very long. The preacher screamed loud enough to tire his lungs. The congregation was affected.”

— Louis Moreau Gottschalk (8 May 1864)

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