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Views from the Choir Loft

Can You Sing Along to Monks?

Veronica Brandt · January 27, 2018

HAT DO YOU DO to get new singers up to speed? Wouldn’t it be fantastic if everyone interested in joining a church choir had a decade or two of listening to Sacred Music under their belts. The Gregorian Ordinaries of the Mass are one of those things that belong to every Catholic, but few people know even one Gregorian Mass setting.

I made this recording at the end of a hot day. The first take turned out useless as the microphone was not working, so forgive me if any of that frustration shows through in this second take. I run through the setting for Sundays during the Year – Missa Orbis Factor or Mass XI. It should be familiar.

I had agreed to make recordings to aid our all too brief opportunities to practise as a choir. I felt it was a little redundant as there are already fantastic recordings here as I point out in the beginning of the video, but the few choir members I’ve had have struggled with the existing recordings. Perhaps there is too much disparity between the voices on the recording and the average alto or baritone voice interested in joining the choir – or maybe it’s just not a comfortable key to sing in.

Next on the list of Ordinaries to record are Missa cum Jubilo (Mass IX) and the Masses for Lent – weekdays and Sundays. These are aimed at my local situation, but maybe they’ll come in handy further afield – it draws from the same treasury of sacred music of the Universal Church after all.

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 Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(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

“We know that originally the offertories of the repertoire included a series of verses, just like the introit and the communion, but generally more ornate. Many of these are musical compositions of great beauty. They quickly fell into disuse, and we find them only in the most ancient manuscripts. The only remaining trace of this older arrangement in our present-day liturgy is that of the offertory of the Requiem Mass.”

— Dom Joseph Gajard (1956)

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