Views from the Choir Loft

“Serviam Scores” • Mr. Richardson has a beautiful voice!

Jeff Ostrowski · August 4, 2020

OU MIGHT remember me taking about seasonal melodies for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The YouTube algorithms sent me one of those, which guided me to an interested YouTube channel called SERVIAM SCORES. Mr. James J. Richardson, the gentleman who runs SERVIAM SCORES, also maintains a YouTube page containing organ recordings. Satan was the one who said Non Serviam (“I will not serve”). But SERVIAM SCORES reverses that disobedience: Serviam (“I will serve”).

Mr. Richardson has quite a beautiful voice:

I see that he also recorded Stella Caeli Exstirpavit (Gregorian Chant During Times Of Pestilence), which we recently featured sung by young ladies from the Brébeuf Virtual Choir. Again, Mr. Richardson’s voice strikes me as quite beautiful:

SERVIAM SCORES does not currently have a website, but someday they will. They have produced numerous scores, and here’s a sample:

In spite of the utter devastation caused by Covid-19, I am encouraged to see more and more projects like SERVIAM SCORES. James J. Richardson can be reached at: ServiamScores@gmail.com.

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

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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 Los Angeles.—(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”

The feasts for Saint Stephen Proto-Martyr (26 December), Saint John the Evangelist The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved (27 December), and the Feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December) seem untouched by any liturgical reforms. These are very powerful feasts—I believe they once possessed octaves—and I believe they could sometimes “overpower” a Sunday feast. The rules for octaves in the olden days are extremely complex. These feasts are sometimes referred to as a single entity as: Comites Christi (“Companions of Christ”). This is just a guess, but there seems to be a triple significance: STEPHEN martyred after Christ lived, JOHN was a martyr who knew Christ personally, and the HOLY INNOCENTS were martyred before Christ’s birth.

—Jeff Ostrowski