Views from the Choir Loft

Two February Workshops

Fr. David Friel · January 13, 2019

ARLY February will feature two interesting workshops in the field of sacred music. One of these opportunities will take place in Chicago, while the other will be held in Indiana. Both promise to be beneficial for participants.

First, the Lumen Christi Institute is sponsoring a Mass for the feast of the Presentation (Candlemas) on February 2, 2019 at 9 AM in the Bond Chapel of the University of Chicago. Music for the liturgy will be provided by Schola Antiqua. Following Mass will be a breakfast and symposium, including several very scholarly speakers:

Michael Anderson (Eastman School of Music)

Margot Fassler (University of Notre Dame)

Peter Jeffery (Universtiy of Notre Dame)

Prior Peter Funk, OSB (Monastery of the Holy Cross)

Robert Kendrick (University of Chicago)

The theme of the symposium is “Sacred Music in Context and Practice.” More information is available here.

Second, the 10th annual National Winter Pastoral Chant Conference will be held February 4-8, 2019 (Monday through Friday). Sponsored each year by the Saint Basil’s School of Gregorian Chant (an institute of the University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX), the site for this conference is St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana.

More information about the Winter Pastoral Chant Conference is 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