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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Learn To Sing SATB • “A New Approach!”

Jeff Ostrowski · May 30, 2019

HERE IS A NEW Catholic hymnal with a fresh approach to helping choirs sing in SATB harmony. The hymns found in the Brébeuf Hymnal are being recorded in a special way, allowing choir members to hear individual lines louder than the other voices. There’s one for Soprano, one for Alto, one for Tenor, one for Bass, and one for Equal Voices. Twelve (12) hymns are available already, with tons more on the way!

A new rehearsal video was just added—Mundus effúsis redémptus translated 1 into English:


To understand the new approach, visit the Brébeuf website and scroll to #282. Choir members can now practice their individual lines!   How cool is that?

Normally, a parish choir will sing “German style”—that is, unison with organ. This allows the congregation to join the singing; even when verses alternate between female and male voices. But parishes which purchase the Brébeuf Hymnal are immediately provided with a DVD containing all the SATB versions. 2 In my opinion, choirs singing in SATB harmony add great solemnity to the Mass; especially during Holy Communion.

(To get a feel for the harmonies, obtain a copy of the Brébeuf organ accompaniment.)

HE MELODY in that video is a beautiful tune called ALL SAINTS. The Brébeuf Hymnal uses that same tune for five (5) different texts; so once the choir learns the SATB version, they are “good to go.” This technique is called shared melodies, and is amazing for helping congregations learn a tune. The text is also quite remarkable:

84413 Mundus Effusis Redemptus • the Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal

Something nobody is talking about—and which needs to be spoken of—is how the Brébeuf Hymnal has rescued an insane amount of ancient Latin hymns which contain marvelous theological truths. Consider the beginning of verse 2 (“Desinat legis sacerdos”):

Priest beneath the Law, and guilty,
for the guilty cease to plead!

That is to say: The priest of the old Law is guilty, like those for whom he prays; he “is bound to offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people” (Heb 5.3); whereas Christ, our High Priest, “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning” (Heb 4.15). Again: “God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Rom 8.3-4): The old Law required holiness and justice, but could not overcome vice and sin, unlike our Lord.

A little later, we have an intriguing line:

Those who thee in fury torment
yield thee service unawares;
as thy blood they shed, it cleanses
all the world, its crime repairs.

In other words, the frenzied torture inflicted on Christ assists him in redeeming us, because the suffering and bloodshed it causes is also the cause of the world’s salvation.

OME CATHOLIC HYMNALS seemingly lack a firm grasp of musical principles. Accepted conventions (“rules”) certainly do exist when it comes to SATB hymns. Generally speaking, the conventions—doublings, voice-leading, melodic leaps, and so on—should be followed, because they help create wonderful music. They exist for a sonic purpose. (Adhering to common practice also makes life easier for the singer.) When somebody “breaks a rule,” it should be done in order to achieve a musical goal; it should not be done out of ignorance.

Flipping through the pages of certain Catholic hymnals, I’m often puzzled when contrapuntal and harmonic rules are routinely disregarded. The SSPX hymnal (“The Traditional Roman Hymnal”) is notorious for baffling harmonizations such as this:

84412 Traditional Roman Hymnal Printed by SSPX

But the SSPX hymnal is hardly alone! Consider this example from the popular Saint Michael Hymnal, which contains double parallel octaves and double hidden fifths:

84411 Saint Michael Hymnal double parallel octaves

The New Saint Basil hymnal (1958) altered most of the standard harmonies. Often, they do so in a thoughtful way, to help avoid excessively low bass notes or to add color. Other times, however, they make puzzling choices, such as failing to resolve sevenths downward:

84410 New Saint Basil Hymnal seventh resolution wrong

The Pope Saint Pius X hymnal (1953) allows parallel octaves and fifths in a way that—to my ear—is inelegant and unjustified:

84408 Pius X Hymnal part writing

When it comes to Saint Mark’s Hymnal For Catholics In The United States (1910), there are so many bizarre voice-leading choices I hardly know where to begin:

84406 St Mark Hymnal errors

Those who look closely at the Brébeuf harmonies will undoubtedly find “rules” occasionally disregarded. But whenever this was done, it was done for a musical purpose, after much consideration.

 


NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   By Fr. Dominic Popplewell, based on a work by Fr. Caswall.

2   A choral edition is also being produced, but many choirmasters prefer the DVD method—where they place into The Black Folder only those pieces which will be sung SATB.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Jean de Brebeuf Hymnal Last Updated: August 26, 2023

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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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    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

Random Quote

From 1827 until the last month of his life, Liszt gave lessons in composition and piano playing. He wrote in 1829 that his schedule was “so full of lessons that each day, from half-past eight in the morning till 10 at night, I have scarcely breathing time”

— Re: Abbé Franz Liszt

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