Views from the Choir Loft

How Do You Mark Starting Pitches?

Jeff Ostrowski · May 16, 2019

ESTERDAY, the FSSP parish in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles had a visit from the newly-elected Superior General: Very Rev’d Father Andrzej Komorowski. One of the choirs sang a Solemn Mass, but the feast is one I hadn’t sung before:

84582 de la salle

It was necessary to “assemble” some Propers—notice how I mark starting pitches:

* * PDF Download • How Jeff Ostrowski Notates Starting Pitches

You might ask: “Why not just write the name of the note?” The simple answer is: that can easily have typos—and starting on the wrong pitch is not cool. That’s why I quickly use the NOH website to show starting pitches. Mr. Warren Hart sent me a fascinating excerpt from a 1940s book which marks the starting pitches in a noteworthy way. Don’t forget to read what Dr. Karl Weinmann said Re: starting pitches in the PREFACE to his fabulous five-line edition of the Graduale.

Finally, here are pictures from last night:

84584-Superior-General-Andrzej-Komorowski-FSSP

84585-Superior-General-Andrzej-Komorowski-FSSP

84586 Superior General Andrzej Komorowski FSSP

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

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).

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