“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)
Mr. Albert Bloomfield kindly sent me “Vespers for the Dead”—which does not fulfill a priest’s obligation to pray the Divine Office, yet is often prayed when a loved one dies. Here is formatting A, and here it is again with formatting B.
This is perhaps the single most significant liturgical document CCWatershed has ever unearthed—and translated to English! • Explains the origin of “Gradual Antiphons” vs. “Missal Antiphons” (a.k.a. “Sacramentary Antiphons”)+
Setting up a virtual pipe organ based on a tiny credit-card sized computer for your home studio.
My mother told me that my father used to stop at the rectory every Saturday afternoon to go to confession to the priest. He died when I was eight, leaving my mother with six children…
When a catafalque is used—instead of a dead body—the priest does not say the “Non Intres” prayer.
“Every diocese, almost every church, had its own customs. Our present rule dates from the revived missal of 1570.”
This travesty has been called “extensive restoration.”
I bet you never noticed this, but here’s the proof! • Believe it or not, the Nicene Creed never says Our Lord “died,” and this article provides full documentation; also included are beautiful manuscript images from the greatest Dutch illuminated manuscript in the world: Catherine of Cleves Hours (15th century MS.)+
Looking for a speedy way to help your choir get into good placement for singing? The yawn breath encourages healthy phonation.
In many of His parables and teachings, Christ let us know that His Kingdom on earth was always what I am going to call “an unfinished product.”
These rehearsal videos were recorded by one person, and he apologizes for the poor singing quality…
Useful links as a “follow-up” to Mæstro Clark’s article about Fr. Weber’s plainsong settings.
In the early XIXth century the Duke of Wellington, speaking of infantry battles, is said to have exclaimed, “All soldiers run away. The good ones come back.”
Almighty God has given to us the example of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America, whose feast day we celebrated yesterday. Of course, along with those eight martyrs we honor their associates, e.g Father François Bressani. I can’t share with you the torments Father Bressani underwent at the hands of Iroquois: it is too brutal. […]
(Keven Smith) • Ever had a man express interest in your choir, only to discover that he has trouble matching pitch? You may just need to unlock his high range. Here’s how I’d approach the situation • James C. McKinney is mentioned+
When the young priest saw the burnt and bleeding body of his superior, aghast and trembling he spoke the words of St. Paul: “We are made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.”
For years, I couldn’t understand this business about “the eyes and the ears.” What did Pothier mean? Then it hit me. • Topics include Dom Joseph Pothier, the mora vocis, Abbot Pothier’s brother (Dom Alphonse Pothier), Dom Lucien David, Dom Paul Jausions, and a truly magnificent story about Pope Pius X and Abbot Pothier, which is essential reading+
Indispensable and accessible: these antiphons possess sublime elegance that grace the Novus Ordo Mass with simple, yet proper reverence and solemnity.
The “Pre-NOH” editions have quite an idiosyncratic way of lengthening the neumes. • Fulsome illustrations are included examining and explaining the mora vocis of the Vatican edition; also mentioned is Dom André Mocquereau, Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val, and Pothier’s Liber Gradualis (1883)+
If only I could do a better job of making people aware of this!
My “pianist pedigree” goes from my teacher through Wiktor Łabuński through Felix Blumenfeld, who studied with Anton Rubinstein. I always considered myself part of the “Bach-Mozart-Chopin school” as opposed to the “Handel-Beethoven-Liszt school.” (Needless to say, there’s great overlap between these schools.) Before giving a concert, Frédéric Chopin would always shut himself up in a […]
Including a written tutorial on how to perform Chabanel Psalms correctly.
Before a Low Mass, the priest ascends the Altar to place the Chalice, check the altar Missal, and do other “preparing” tasks. The organist must be prepared to play here, and—depending upon the priest—this can be of surprising length! For certain priests, I can easily play all six verses of a hymn while he’s doing […]
It all boils down to recollection. This 39-page book will help. (And so will one weird trick with your computer, as the clickbaiters would say.)
I think we can learn something from this pagan official.
