Views from the Choir Loft

Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast

Fr. David Friel · March 10, 2019

EBCASTING aficionados take heed: a new podcast devoted to sacred music has just been launched. Entitled Square Notes, the program is dedicated to exploring the teaching and vision of the Church on the topic of liturgical music. This project brings the discussion of truly sacred music to a new platform, supplementing what is already available through professional organizations, in the blogosphere, and in print.

The hosts of the podcast are Dr. Jennifer Donelson and Mr. Peter Carter, whose full bios are posted on the podcast’s website.

The first episode (the only one available so far) is an interview with Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, OR (see here for news of his recently promulgated “Archdiocesan Liturgical Handbook”). The interview, which lasts just over half an hour, involves an engaging discussion of the principles of sacred music and the importance of worthy liturgical celebration.

Future episodes will include stories of conversions prompted by sacred music, conversations with specialists in musical pedagogy for children, and such notable guests as Fr. Cassian Folsom, OSB, Dr. William Mahrt, and Charles Cole.

This new podcast is distributed through various media, including iTunes, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Stitcher. See the program’s own website for links to these listening platforms.

You can also like their Facebook page to stay abreast of newly posted episodes.

For my own first foray into the world of webcasting, check out this podcast from a couple years ago about what constitutes true sacred music.

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 Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.—(Read full biography).

“Tonus Solemnior” • How old is it?

In the 1962 Missal, a section called “præfationes in tono solemniore” contains ornate melodies for the Preface. An article posted on the blog of the Church Music Association of America claims the tone comes from “the late 19th century” and said its elimination “is one of the very few good things which the post-Conciliar reform did for Gregorian chant.” The author said: “The Roman solemn preface tone is already beautiful enough, there was no need to give a more Romantic feel.”

Some have asked us whether the tonus solemnior comes from “the late 19th century.” It does not. Their author was wrong by at least 400 years. I have seen this tone in MSS from the 1400s—and it may go back even further. Here is an example from 1494AD. And here’s another from the 1400s. The FSSP priests use these tones on high feasts, and the effect is unforgettable.

—Jeff Ostrowski

6 January 2022 • Quick!

A short version of the INTROIT for the feast of the Epiphany has been added to the Saint René Goupil Gregorian Chant Website.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Confusing Feasts of Christmas

Whether one considers the Missale Vetustum or the post-conciliar calendar—or even the 1908 calendar—the feasts which follow Christmas are very confusing. Last year I created this comparison chart. I hope you find it helpful. As far as I can tell, my chart is the first effort to carefully detail the changes made to post-Christmas feasts (unless we also count the rather basic one by Lauren Pristas).

—Jeff Ostrowski

Many declare that Vatican Council II brought about a true springtime in the Church. Nevertheless, a growing number of Church leaders see this “springtime” as a rejection, a renunciation of her centuries-old heritage, or even as a radical questioning of her past and Tradition. Political Europe is rebuked for abandoning or denying its Christian roots; but the first to have abandoned her Christian roots and past is indisputably the post-conciliar Catholic Church.

— ‘Pope Francis’ Chief Liturgist (31 March 2017)’