Views from the Choir Loft

Short But Superb Film • “Westminster Choir Boys”

Jeff Ostrowski · February 6, 2020 ·

HERE have been changes made to the program at Westminster Cathedral (which is Roman Catholic, whereas Westminster Abbey is currently Protestant). This program was initially created under Sir Richard R. Terry, whose book can be downloaded as a PDF file. Recently, it has been run by Martin Baker, who can be seen in the following video. Maestro Baker is a very close friend of Fr. Guy Nicholls, who has been such a supporter of CCWatershed through the years. But Martin Baker recently resigned, apparently because of certain changes (which Dr. Tappan has spoken about.) May God’s Will be done with regard to the music program there.

In any event, here’s an inspiring film created before Maestro Baker’s resignation:

The Cathedral—it would seem—is trying to correct the mistake they made, and have launched:

* A Plan To Save The Music Program
—“Strategic review of sacred music in the mission of Westminster Cathedral” (01/20/2020)

It seems the future is in the hands of these people:

Robert Arnott, Director of Strategy, Social Mobility and Disadvantage at the Department for Education and Chair of Trustees of the Cardinal Hume Centre.

Leslie Ferrar, Non-Executive Director of Secure Income REIT PLC and Former Trustee of the Diocese of Westminster.

Mgr Mark Langham, Roman Catholic Chaplain of Cambridge University and Former Administrator of Westminster Cathedral.

Andrew Reid, Formerly Director of the Royal School of Church Music and Former Assistant Master of Music of Westminster Cathedral.

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