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Views from the Choir Loft

Opportunity to study Polyphony in San Francisco

Corpus Christi Watershed · April 23, 2018

89404 Michael Alan Anderson HE Sacred Music Symposium, held each year in Los Angeles, has taken the church music scene by storm—but this is by no means the only summer gathering worth considering.

Dr. Michael Alan Anderson, of the Eastman School of Music, who serves as artistic director of Schola Antiqua in Chicago, has asked us to alert our readers to the following:

Singing Gregorian Chant
and Renaissance Polyphony
in San Francisco

(Details)

The course will balance exposure to the genres and styles of traditional Western plainchant with the study and execution of Renaissance vocal polyphony. Sessions will center not just on performance but also on historical background, notation, and contemporary theory and practice.

In a short concert at week’s end, students will present—as an SATB choir—an unpublished sixteenth-century polyphonic Vespers, which incorporates both chant and polyphony. This course is appropriate for church music directors, choral directors, and singers wishing to gain a stronger foundation in early music. The institute takes place in San Francisco’s historic and awe-inspiring St. Dominic’s Catholic Church.

Here is an excerpt of Dr. Anderson directing his group:


Hearing a beautiful choral sound like that, there really isn’t anything more to add. As Roger Wagner said constantly: “Never apologize for your choir, because they’re as good as you are!”

Dr. Anderson is clearly a superb director.

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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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

Amid all these old liturgical books, I find that I am happy and at ease; I feel at home.

— Dom André Mocquereau (1884)

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