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Views from the Choir Loft

Simple Mass Propers (1909)

Jeff Ostrowski · August 30, 2018

ID YOU EVER WONDER how “back in the day” small choirs managed to sing the Propers? In some places, even though it contradicted the rubrics, choirs simply skipped the Propers. In other places (and this was extremely common) choirs would sing them recto tono—that is to say, all on one note, often with organ accompaniment. Dr. Peter Wagner and the committee which created the Editio Vaticana considered the possibility of allowing small choirs to skip the chants between the Epistle and Gospel, or to prepare a “simple” version. The idea ended up going nowhere, because the committee soon fell apart due to irreconcilable differences.

Here’s an example of how the Proprium Missae could be made easier to sing:

    * *  PDF Download • Simple Propers for Easter Sunday (1909)

Here is a 1909 article explaining what this is all about:

87742 simple propers


In some ways, what Amatucci did seems more difficult than singing the actual plainsong…

By the way, Schwann—a company very much associated with Dr. Peter Wagner—in 1917 published an edition with simple versions of the chants between Epistle and Gospel. You can download that book at the St. Lalande Library.

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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Don’t You Agree About These?
    If you want to make Jeff Ostrowski really happy, send him an email with effusive praise about the individual voice recordings for hymn #296. [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass] They came out dazzlingly sensational, don't you agree?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Choral Vowels? Yes? No?
    Here's a live recording of one of the choral “warm-up” exercises my choir enjoys. It was taken during our rehearsal on 27 January 2023. It’s good to make sure each chord is perfectly in tune and balanced before moving to the next one. That only happens when each singer has the correct vowel. If you like, you can freely download that vocal exercise.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“These French offices represent a new case of the old tendency towards local modification—which the Council of Trent had meant to repress. They are commonly attributed to Gallican ideas and are supposed to be not free from Jansenist venom. Some of these local French uses survived almost to our own time. They were supplanted by the Roman books in the 19th century, chiefly by the exertions of Dom Prosper Guéranger (d. 1875).”

— Dr. Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923)

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