Views from the Choir Loft

Saint Paul’s Choir School Presents “Starry Night: Christmas in Harvard Square”

Richard J. Clark · December 15, 2020

HE SAINT PAUL’S Choir School in Cambridge, Massachusetts has been a beacon of light during a dark time for both education and music. One of the very few schools that has offered in-person instruction five days a week, they are also one of the few choirs operating at a high level, maintaining the highest standard of sacred music for the Sacred Liturgy.

This has come about though great investment, adaptation of space, and preparation to implement ongoing above-and-beyond safety precautions. This includes singing with masks, installation of aggressive filtration and ventilation systems, and testing of all personnel—including for this filming.

Under the direction of Internationally acclaimed conductor, organist, and composer, James Kennerley, the Saint Paul’s Choir of Men and Boys presents Starry Night: Christmas in Harvard Square

* * Click here to watch the entire concert and for information to register.

* * The full concert will be available to all donors ($20) beginning on Friday, December 19 at 7pm (Eastern Time GMT-5) Links to the concert will be provided in the donation confirmation email and will activate on Friday, December 19 at 7pm (Eastern Time GMT-5).

Watch a preview with Theodore Marier’s arrangement of Silent Night:

Program:

Bring a Torch, by Jeanette Isabella, arr. by Keith Chapman

Once in royal David’s City, by H.J. Gauntlett and A.H. Mann, arr. by David Willcocks

In the Bleak Midwinter, by Harold Drake Adam Lay Ybounden, by James Kennerley

Shepherd’s Pipe Carol, by John Rutter

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, by Richard Willis, arr. by James Kennerley

Silent Night; by Franz Gruber, arr. by Theodore Marier

Nativity Carol, by John Rutter Ave Maria, by Franz Biebl

Lux Aurumque, by Eric Whitacre

I Wonder as I Wander, by Carl Rütti Sir Christèmas, by William Mathias

Hark! The herald angels sing, by Felix Mendelssohn, arr. by David Willcocks

Personent Hodie, arr. by James Kennerley

The performance is conducted by SPCS Director of Music and Choirmaster James Kennerley, with accompaniment by Assistant Director of Music Maks Adach, as well as Kennerley.

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

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

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

“Yahweh” in church songs?

My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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

When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962

There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop

—Veronica Brandt

The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum

Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.

—Daniel Tucker