Views from the Choir Loft

“Pater Noster” by Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel

Jeff Ostrowski · May 8, 2018

AVE YOU applied to the 2018 Sacred Music Symposium, to be held in June? If not, why not? We have accepted 75 singers, but a few spots still remain. Don’t miss this fabulous opportunity! For example, participants will sing a marvelous composition by Msgr. Jules Van Nuffel, whose artistry has inspired everything in my musical career, ever since I first discovered him in 1998, thanks to Dr. Daniel Politoske. ¹

This breathtaking “Our Father” will close the Symposium:

HAVE recorded rehearsal videos for each individual line, and you can access them at the following website, along with information about the PDF score:

* * PATER NOSTER (Rehearsal videos) …Search for number 89161

For example, here’s my practice video for the TENOR voice:

Those who attend the Symposium this year will learn how I create rehearsal videos like those. You owe it to yourself to visit that web link, listen to some rehearsal videos, and consider whether you should apply for the 2018 Sacred Music Symposium.

NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1 Jules Van Nuffel composes using a “contemporary” (modern) harmonic language, as opposed to, for example, a Romantic, Baroque, or Classical style. There are also “contemporary” (living) composers who attempt to imitate former styles—but Jules Van Nuffel does not fall into that category.

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).

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