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Views from the Choir Loft

What Did Palestrina Look Like?

Jeff Ostrowski · May 12, 2020

INGING at Mass recently, I mentioned to my friend (Jordan Pacheco) that I don’t know any music which is more awesome or passionate than Measures 20-21 (Tenor Line) in this Palestrina score. I used to think Palestrina was “boring” or “vanilla”—but I was wrong. (Boy, was I ever wrong!) But what did Palestrina actually look like? Do we know?

Fr. Cristóbal de Morales: We know what Father Cristóbal de Morales looked like. Scroll to the bottom of this article to see a contemporary picture of his face.

Fr. Francisco Guerrero: We also know what Father Francisco Guerrero looked like. Click here to see a contemporary image, which Corpus Christi Watershed paid an artist to “realize.”

Father Lawrence Lew recently sent me this image of Palestrina next to Guido d’Arezzo:


It is found on the Cathedral of Florence (the “Duomo of Firenze”), which was completed approximately 100 years before Palestrina was born. I guess that means the sculpture was added later? Here’s the full photograph by Father Lawrence Lew, OP—perhaps the world’s greatest photographer:

He is holding a score to “Missa Papæ Marcelli.” Our readers will understand why.

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

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Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: May 12, 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

“Place the missal in the hand of the faithful so that they may take part more easily and more fruitfully in the Mass; and that they faithful, united with the priest, may pray together in the very words and sentiments of the Church.”

— Ven. Pope Pius XII

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