Views from the Choir Loft

New England Pueri Cantores Choral Festival and Mass • Cathedral of the Holy Cross

Richard J. Clark · November 22, 2019 ·

OPE FRANCIS recently said, “Do not forget this: Liturgy is the first ‘teacher’ of catechism.” Singing liturgical music from our rich Roman Catholic tradition isn’t just about the music, but nurturing faith through the Sacred Liturgy.

I encourage Choir Directors to bring all treble and mixed voice choirs (grades 4-12) to the newly renovated Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston on Saturday, March 21, 2020 for the American Federation Pueri Cantores New England Choral Festival and Mass.

• Registration, and brochure:

• REGISTER ONLINE HERE

• PDF Download • New England Catholic Youth Choral Festival and Mass • 2020.

Mass will be celebrated by Bishop Robert P. Reed, President of Catholic TV and Auxiliary Bishop of Boston. Nationally celebrated conductor, Dr. Richard Robbins will conduct, and I will personally accompany the Mass and rehearsals.

• Eight Professional Development Credits will be extended to conductors of participating choirs!

• MP3 audio recordings and downloadable scores will are available for participating choirs.

I encourage choir directors to consider this festival not only for strong singers, but also for those for whom this may be a welcome challenge. The environment is nurturing, positive, and joyful!

For questions or information click here to email me.

I look forward to welcoming all of you to the Cathedral to share in this beautiful and prayerful event!

Richard J. Clark
Director of Music
Archdiocese of Boston
Cathedral of the Holy Cross

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. He is also Chapel Organist (Saint Mary’s Chapel) at Boston College. His compositions have been performed worldwide.

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

The representative Protestant collection, entitled “Hymns, Ancient and Modern”—in substance a compromise between the various sections of conflicting religious thought in the Establishment—is a typical instance. That collection is indebted to Catholic writers for a large fractional part of its contents. If the hymns be estimated which are taken from Catholic sources, directly or imitatively, the greater and more valuable part of its contents owes its origin to the Church.

— Orby Shipley (1884)