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Views from the Choir Loft

Video • “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

Jeff Ostrowski · December 24, 2019

E HAVE OFTEN STRESSED something important about the Brébeuf hymnal. Just because it is a fully Catholic book, that doesn’t mean every single Protestant hymn was excluded. A good example is Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. Many other Catholic hymnals have included this beautiful hymn for a long time. For example, “Worship IV Hymnal” (GIA, 2011) places it for #414. The “Saint Michael Hymnal” (2011 edition) places it for #558. The “New Catholic Hymnal” (Patrick Russill, 1998)—published by the London Oratory—places it for #21. The “Adoremus Hymnal” (Ignatius Press, 2011) places it for #325.

In the Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal, it is #663:

You can hear the individual tracks if you visit the Brébeuf website and scroll to #663.

Sometimes, older Catholic hymnals did funny things with this melody.

Look at this example from the “Notre Dame Hymnal Book” (Birtchnell & Brown, 1905):

80523 MENDELSSOHN 1905 NOTRE DAME HYMN BOOK (Birtchnell & Brown)


Consider, too, this example from “Saint Mark’s Roman Catholic Hymnal” (1910):

80522 MENDELSSOHN 1910 HARK THE HERALD - Ad Regias - 1910 Saint Mark Hymnal copy


That’s the text for Ad Regias Agni Dapes !!!

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

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).

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Quick Thoughts

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

Random Quote

Using the shoddiest, sleaziest material we have for the purpose of glorifying God is not very sound theology or even very good common sense. […] (In general, when you see a diminished seventh chord in a hymn, run.) And these chords are usually used in bad hymns in precisely the same order in which they occur in “Sweet Adeline.”

— Paul Hume (1956)

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