Views from the Choir Loft

Compline in the Home – via Podcasts!

Veronica Brandt · April 25, 2020

We’ve been praying Compline as a family now for years. We follow the 1962 Liber Usualis for the most part, adding in a Te Lucis tune for Marian Feasts which I found in a German Compline booklet.

Our booklet is now fairly complete. Having a booklet is helpful, but many people have asked to hear recordings. Although it varies less than the other hours of the Divine Office, there are still substantial changes, especially around this time of the Church’s year.

The latest version of our Compline Booklet is available at compline.brandt.id.au along with almost daily recordings from our family.

Other recordings of Compline which I am aware of include:

The monks of the Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux: barrouxchant.com have all their Divine Office available following the Antiphonale Monasticum.
The new Gregorian Neumz project: neumz.com following the Liturgy of the Hours. They have released recordings of Holy Week and a new app is in the pipeline.
A paid extension to the Universalis App offers Sung Compline from the Liturgy of the Hours sung by the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School
A reader suggested this Dominican Compline App including recordings from the Friars from St. Dominic Priory (St. Louis, MO)

But I’m not aware of one following the 1962 books. So, we’ll keep recording!

Looking back over my earlier posts on my family’s adventures with Compline: in 2014 I wrote about Working on a Compline booklet.Then in 2016 I shared a discovery: Compline Online with Chant Notation . Last year I looked at taking the first steps in How to Install Compline in Your Home.

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

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About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski

2 January 2021 • Temptation

When I see idiotic statements made on the internet, I go nuts. When I see heretics promoted by people who should know better, I get angry. Learning to ignore such items is difficult—very difficult. I try to remember the words of Fr. Valentine Young: “Do what God places in front of you each day.” When I am honest, I don’t believe God wants me to dwell on errors and idiocy; there’s nothing I can do about that. During 2021, I will strive to do a better job following the advice of Fr. Valentine.

—Jeff Ostrowski

31 December 2020 • “COMITES CHRISTI”

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—Jeff Ostrowski