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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF • “Additional Versions of the Credo” (1934)

Jeff Ostrowski · February 28, 2019

85283 Credo VII • Gregorian Chant OST PEOPLE would probably presume that the Ordinary of the Mass is more ancient than the Proprium Missae (“propers”), especially the Greek KYRIE. Such a mistake is understandable, but it’s still wrong. The Propers are the most ancient part of the Mass, and the Ordinary is rather late by comparison. Moreover, the addition of the CREDO is extremely late, and even to this day the Creed is said only on special feasts. In recognition of this fact, musical settings of the Creed are kept in a completely different location than the rest of the Kyriale.

If you examine the Campion Missal, you will see that both CREDO V and CREDO VI were included, even though not that many people sing them. The Saint Antoine Daniel website includes a marvelous setting called Credo VII, along with an organ accompaniment.

But this morning, I received a surprise in my inbox from a reader!

Versions of the CREDO I had never seen before:

    * *  PDF Download • Supplement to the Kyriale (1934)

The file appears to be one of the numerous “supplemental inserts” included at the back of the Solesmes books. Readers will recall me speaking of how fascinating some of these are, especially the ones added to the Reims-Cambrais edition of the Graduale.

One of the versions appears to be based upon CREDO I, which would be only natural since this was the sole version people sang for centuries:

85281 comparison CREDO versions


Contained in that PDF are a whole bunch more versions of the Kyriale I have never seen before. We owe a debt of gratitude to whoever scanned this!

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 12, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

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

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

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“The scholar who lives only for his subject is but the fragment of a man; he lives in a shadow-world, mistaking means for ends.”

— Msgr. Ronald Knox (1888-1957)

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