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Views from the Choir Loft

Recorded Music At Mass?

Jeff Ostrowski · June 12, 2020

HAVE frequently been asked some variation of this question: “Jeff, you often pontificate about Josef Hofmann, insisting—along with Sergei Rachmaninov—that no other pianist comes anywhere near him; but why exactly is this?” Of course I don’t have an answer, but I believe part of the answer has to do with the fact that Josef Hofmann came to prominence before there was such a thing as recorded music. Later on, Thomas Edison changed all that with his phonograph. (By the way, Josef Hofmann as a teenager assisted Edison with his invention!) Hofmann was trained in an era during which all music was ‘live’—and I believe we can never return to such a situation…or comprehend what it was like.

Consider that in 1900 the world contained approximately 1.6 billion people; currently, there are 7.5 billion people. Certainly we have child prodigies today, but not on the level we used to. Research the young Camille Saint-Saëns, the young Josef Hofmann, or the young Felix Mendelssohn. For that matter, research the early career of Lorin Maazel, who was conducting major orchestras at the tender age of eight! I would submit that today’s virtuosi cannot match those of 100+ years ago. Music, in general, has changed so much. Something else to ponder: in 1923 Vladimir Horowitz (with violinist Nathan Milstein) premiered violin concerti by Karol Szymanowski (d. 1937) and Sergei Prokofiev (d. 1953). That was possible because in those days it was 100% common—and fully accepted—for violinists to play concerti accompanied by the piano! Time haves changed.1

Recorded Music At Mass?

These days, people often ask: “Why can’t we have recorded music at Mass?”

I think the best answer was given by Father Peter Gee, FSSP, close to three decades ago. When I asked him why we can’t play records at Mass, he instantly replied: “Because the Mass is something living.”

P.S.

For the record, our contributor (Mr. Keven Smith) attended the school founded by Josef Hofmann: The Curtis Institute. I hope he will (eventually) find time to share some stories with us!

 


NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Speaking of Vladimir Horowitz, before 1953 he was quite fantastic. He had numerous operas memorized, plus tons of chamber music and concerti, to say nothing of his solo repertoire, which was massive: Brahms, Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Bach-Busoni, Mussorgsky, Beethoven, Scriabin, Haydn, Mussorgsky, Schumann, and so forth. To give just one example, early in his career Horowitz accompanied (singer) Zoya Lodaya in Schubert’s Winterreise cycle, and Horowitz played the entire piano part from memory—a feat worthy of Friedman or Hofmann! By the way, after 1953, Horowitz’s playing deteriorated in a huge way, although he was paid massive amounts of money to perform until the day he died; again, a strange paradox which is not unrelated to what I’ve been talking about, in terms of our society’s appreciation for serious music. Times have changed; and so has music.

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

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Josef Hofmann Pianist Extraordinaire Last Updated: June 13, 2020

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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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

Don Fernando de las Infantas wrote to the Pope, trying to get him to stop Palestrina from corrupting all the plainsong editions: “The errors which certain musicians, in all good faith, think they have found in plainchant are not errors at all, but on the contrary contain some of the most beautiful musical passages ever written.”

— Don Fernando de las Infantas (1578 A.D.)

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