Views from the Choir Loft

Archives for April 2019

Dr. Lucas Tappan · April 30, 2019

A Reason To Hope

We need to remember how small the amount of yeast is that is needed to leaven the dough.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 22, 2019

Josef Hofmann: “King of Pianists”

This excerpt from a 1980 radio interview with Abe Chasins proves I’m not crazy…

Jeff Ostrowski · April 20, 2019

PDF Download • “Cheat Sheet” for Easter Vigil

Releasing this is probably a bad idea…too late!

Jeff Ostrowski · April 19, 2019

PDF Download • Organ Interludes for Manuals!

I will most definitely be playing these pieces—based on hymn tunes—by Georg Philipp Telemann!

Veronica Brandt · April 13, 2019

Oreste Ravanello’s Easy Pieces for Organ

A dozen easy little pieces for organ.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 12, 2019

Musical Program for Covid-19

Saint Vitus • MATT GONZALEZ WEDDING • Saturday, 1 August 2020…bride walks at Noon! ——Call time for singers is 10:00am ENTRANCE Organist will play INTROIT • “Deus Israël conjungat” Sung by Men from Goupil-Chant Search the René Goupil website for “pro sponsis” KYRIE #81668 — Palestrina “Fons Bonitatis” part 1 #81249 — Palestrina “Fons Bonitatis” […]

Jeff Ostrowski · April 12, 2019

The Amazing Uy Family Singers!

Not a piece you expected to hear today!

Corpus Christi Watershed · April 10, 2019

In 1991, Buchanan Predicted Ratzinger’s Election

“If the Latin Mass were available, 8% of Catholics would go every Sunday, 17% would attend frequently, and 51% occasionally.” —1991 Poll

Jeff Ostrowski · April 10, 2019

(captured by iPhone) • Rehearsing for the Symposium

Do me a huge favor…

Jeff Ostrowski · April 9, 2019

Brébeuf Harmony Edition • “Splendid Beyond Words”

Folks, there’s just one word for this: WOW.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 8, 2019

PDF Download • Spectacular “Tenebrae” Booklet

Mr. Albert Bloomfield has done us a breathtaking favor.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 6, 2019

St. Michael the Archangel Prayer…in Gregorian Chant!

From a rare book of Franciscan chants (1902)

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 4, 2019

PDF Download • Mystery Kyriale (100 Pages)

Nobody knows the author or date of publication.

“Music List” • 6th Sunday of Easter (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 6th Sunday of Easter (25 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and propers for this Sunday are provided at the the feasts website.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Gloria in Spanish” • Free Accompaniment

Several people have requested an organ accompaniment for the GLORY TO GOD which prints the Spanish words directly above the chords. The Spanish adaptation—Gloria a Dios en el cielo—as printed in Roman Misal, tercera edición was adapted from the “Glória in excélsis” from Mass XV (DOMINATOR DEUS). I used to feel that it’s a pretty boring chant … until I heard it sung well by a men’s Schola Cantorum, which changed my view dramatically. This morning, I created this harmonization and dedicated it to my colleague, Corrinne May. You may download it for free. Please let me know if you enjoy it!

—Jeff Ostrowski

How Well Does ICEL Know Latin?

This year, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June 2025) will fall on a Sunday. It’s not necessary to be an eminent Latin scholar to be horrified by examples like this, which have been in place since 1970. For the last 55 years, anyone who’s attempted to correct such errors has been threatened with legal action. It is simply unbelievable that the (mandatory) texts of the Holy Mass began being sold for a profit in the 1970s. How much longer will this gruesome situation last?

—Jeff Ostrowski

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).

—Corpus Christi Watershed

When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962

There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop

—Veronica Brandt

The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum

Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.

—Daniel Tucker