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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Sanctus & Benedictus • “Ave Maris Stella” (Victoria)

Jeff Ostrowski · June 5, 2018

UR PASTOR in the 1990s once said to me: “Jeff, I appreciate best those passages of Sacred Scripture with which I am most familiar.” Music is the same: we often most enjoy melodies that we’ve heard before, at least a few times. For this reason, great composers like Tomás Luis de Victoria (d. 1611)—who was a Catholic priest, just like Cristóbal de Morales—frequently based their Mass settings on tunes familiar to the congregation. However, the primary reason it was chosen to be sung at Symposium 2018 is its marvelous counterpoint.

Can you hear how he employs melodies from Ave Maris Stella hymn?

REHEARSAL VIDEOS for each individual voice and PDF score await you at #88751.

REHEARSAL VIDEOS for each individual voice and PDF score await you at #88749.

A FEW WEEKS AGO, we released the KYRIE from this Mass, and soon we’ll follow suit with the GLORIA. This Mass by Victoria was first published in 1576—meaning Fr. Victoria was still his twenties. The following is how Dr. Robert Stevenson, a great musicologist, compared Victoria’s setting to the Missa Ave Maris Stella of Fr. Morales:

ICTORIA—still in his twenties—shows none of the elder master’s adroitness at inventing original motifs that can recur as counterpoints to the plainsong hymn in such different movements as the “Patrem omnipotentem” and the “Et in Spiritum Sanctum”—or, over a still larger arch: in KYRIE I, the SANCTUS, and AGNUS DEI I. Morales’s great architectural gifts, displayed in this Mass and elsewhere, justly entitle him to comparison with Juan de Herrera; and it was just this talent that enabled him in his much longer Mass to unify disparate age-groups of masonry into a convincing and harmonious whole.

Victoria, who always chose to work on a smaller scale, did succeed, however, in leaving a much more genial and affable impression with his Mass. The very transposition of the hymn up a fourth throws the vocal quartet into lighter and brighter registers. His unwillingness to commit himself to any single technique, paraphrase or cantus firmus, also prevents his manner from ever becoming tedious. A comparison of the number of printed accidentals is not so conclusive as it may seem—Victoria having been the first Spanish composer to specify all, or nearly all, his required accidentals. But for what it’s worth, Victoria’s KYRIE movements contain eight or nine more accidentals than are to be found in the whole of Morales’s Mass. Above all, his harmonies can always be analyzed in a modern G-minor sense, whatever the key signature; whereas Morales’s harmonies, no matter how much ficta is applied, remain irretrievably modal in his Ave maris stella.

In conclusion, I must tell you a secret: Some readers won’t click those links above, and thereby forfeit the magnificent rehearsal videos for each individual voice. They’ll also avoid the special PDF scores which contain Solfège. This makes me sad.

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 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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Using “Ye” Vs. “You” Correctly
    Using “Ye” vs. “You” is rather tricky, because it depends upon which era one is trying to recreate—if that makes any sense. In other words, the rules haven’t always been the same for these two. Nevertheless, Father Philip George Caraman (the legendary Jesuit scholar) gives us a masterclass using Saint Luke’s Gospel. Father Caraman was close friends with Monsignor Ronald Knox, Evelyn Waugh, and Sir Alec Guinness.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Pope Leo XIV Has Announced…”
    My pastor asked me to write brief articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The most recent article speaks about the recent announcement by Pope Leo XIV, which does have an impact on church musicians. Scheduled for publication on 2025 08 10th, it’s called: “Pope Leo XIV Has Announced…”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Chants” • 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
    All the chants for 3 August 2025—which is the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)—have been added to the feasts website, as usual under a convenient “drop down” menu. The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (from the book of Wisdom) is stunning. That feast website has been called “the best kept secret of Church music.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

Yet, with all its advantages, the new Missal was published as if it were a work put together by professors, not a phase in a continual growth process. Such a thing never happened before. It is absolutely contrary to the laws of liturgical growth, and it has resulted in the nonsensical notion that Trent and Pius V had “produced” a Missal four hundred years ago.

— Josef Cardinal Ratzinger (1986)

Recent Posts

  • Using “Ye” Vs. “You” Correctly
  • Installment #3 • “Serious Problems with the Lectionary Translation”
  • “Pope Leo XIV Has Announced…”
  • “Chants” • 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
  • “Corn” From Heaven?

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