Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “Pre-1955 Holy Saturday” (Draft)

Jeff Ostrowski · April 5, 2020

ODAY, I’m releasing something I probably shouldn’t—because it’s “not ready for Prime Time.” Let me explain: The indispensable Goupil Gradual books have everything needed for singing the Traditional Latin Mass, but they were missing Holy Saturday. Holy Saturday was slated to be added later; but suddenly Pope Francis gave permission to certain parishes (including ours) to use the Pre-1955 Holy Week. ¹ So, I am currently in the process of creating a “double” Holy Saturday—useful for Pre-1955 and/or Post-1955.

You can download this ugly “draft” booklet we’re using in the meantime:

* PDF Download • Pre-1955 Holy Saturday (DRAFT)
—This is for Pre-1955 Holy Saturday; it looks ugly because it’s a DRAFT.

It’s a handy booklet to have, notwithstanding the fact that many choirs will desire to substitute the longer, supremely gorgeous, more elaborate versions of the plainsong for Holy Saturday:

If you desire a 1962 version (a.k.a. “Post-1955” or “Bugnini Holy Week”) try this draft copy:

* PDF Download • Holy Saturday (draft) — From 1957
—This is for the “Post-1955” version; in other words, 1962.

NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1 It will be remembered that during the 1950s Annibale Bugnini headed a committee which changed Holy Week.

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

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.

Sonata during the Gradual?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote seventeen Church Sonatas between 1772 and 1780. These are short pieces intended to be played between the Epistle and the Gospel (during Mass). Shortly after Mozart left Salzburg, the Archbishop mandated that an appropriate choral motet or congregational hymn be sung at that point in the liturgy, with the result that the “Epistle Sonata” fell into disuse.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Note from a reader (25 June 2020)

“Just visited your website for the first time 5 minutes ago. Was that struck by the beauty of the chant and the immense gift of such a beautiful collection that can be downloaded with ease…at no charge! In awe of the gift of this extensive content and the amount of labor that has gone into all of it. Please receive our support and encouragement! God bless and keep you all. Praise be to Jesus Christ, now and forever! Thank you truly.” —Signed, The P____ Family

—Jeff Ostrowski

Positive Message from a Catholic Priest

Today, we received this wonderful message from a Catholic Priest: I want to say thank you for everything you have done to bring back the sense of the sacred in The liturgy. We are going through a liturgical renewal here in the parish where I was assigned as a parochial vicar. I’ve only been a priest for 1 year and 8 days! We are beginning to use your psalms for our English Masses.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“We must say it plainly: the Roman rite as we knew it exists no more. It has gone. Some walls of the structure have fallen, others have been altered—we can look at it as a ruin or as the partial foundation of a new building. Think back, if you remember it, to the Latin sung High Mass with Gregorian chant. Compare it with the modern post-Vatican II Mass. It is not only the words, but also the tunes and even certain actions that are different. In fact it is a different liturgy of the Mass.”

— Fr. Joseph Gelineau (1978)