Views from the Choir Loft

Sacred Music Camp for Children in Philadelphia

Fr. David Friel · June 10, 2018

HILADELPHIA’S Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter & Paul has a rich musical history, which was nicely summarized in a booklet published a few years ago. This summer, however, will mark a musical first for the basilica.

The inaugural Cantate Domino Festival is a musical camp open to boys and girls, 7–15 years of age. The event will span two weekdays in July and conclude with an evening concert. Participants will receive training in singing technique and music theory, reinforced through exposure to sacred repertoire.

The Festival will be held July 23 and 24, 2018, from 9 AM to 5 PM. The concluding event will be a concert in the basilica at 7 PM on July 24, 2018.

This camp will be staffed by a group of experienced and well-trained musicians, including:

Charlene Angelini, Director of Music at the Cathedral Basilica

Danielle Molan, Archdiocesan Children’s Choir Director

Nathan Knutson, Director of Sacred Music, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary

Lisa Knutson, Administrator, Zipoli Institute for Sacred Music

Mark Loria, Principal Organist at the Cathedral Basilica

More information and the registration form for the Cantate Domino Festival are available here.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(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

Giovanni Doni is known for having changed the name of note “Ut,” renaming it “Do.” He convinced his contemporaries to make the change by arguing that 1) “Do” is easier to pronounce than “Ut,” and 2) “Do” is an abbreviation for “Dominus,” the Latin word for the Lord, Who is the tonic and root of the world. There is much academic speculation that Giovanni Doni also wanted to imprint himself into musical canon in perpetuity because “Do” is also ulteriorly an abbreviation for his family name.

— Giovanni Battista Doni died in 1647AD