Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • Spectacular “Tenebrae” Booklet

Jeff Ostrowski · April 8, 2019 ·

OOGLE THE NAME “Paula Sims” and you’ll discover the sad tale of a mother who secretly killed her baby but attempted to blame a “masked man” who supposedly broke into her house. Three years earlier, Paula had killed another baby, blaming the murder on {wait for it…} a “masked man” who supposedly broke into her house. You have to ask yourself: “Does she think we’re stupid?” The same could be asked of the 1960s reformers who tried to eliminate (and hide) the authentic liturgy of the Catholic Church. Did they really believe it would be possible to cover up 1,500 years of tradition? Do they think we are all stupid? Well, it didn’t work. Catholics keep discovering the ancient traditions. First they fall in love; then they go to incredible lengths to revive what was destroyed.

A shining example would be Mr. Albert Bloomfield, whose work is known to me thanks to our mutual friend, Fr. Valentine Young, OFM. ¹

* * PDF Download • Complete Tenebrae (1962)

Downloading could not be easier:

85008 TENEBRAE BOOKLET COMPLETE

You will also see they can be purchased through Amazon in booklet form. These Vespers Books (which we have mentioned in the past) are what we use every Sunday at Saint Vitus, and we could not be happier with them. Mr. Albert Bloomfield has done us all a breathtaking favor.

NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1 If you ever get an opportunity to meet him, please do so! He’s truly magnificent. Indeed, you would struggle to find a holier, more faithful priest than Fr. Valentine Young.

About Jeff Ostrowski

A theorist, organist, and conductor, Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004), and did graduate work in Musicology. He serves as choirmaster for the new FSSP parish in Los Angeles, where he resides with his wife and children.

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski