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Views from the Choir Loft

The First Time We’ve Ever Done This Correctly!

Jeff Ostrowski · December 16, 2020

N THE HUNDREDTH anniversary of the publication of the Editio Vaticana GRADUAL, Jeffrey Tucker asked me if he could scan my personal copy, which I had purchased from Germany. In 2008, I published an article in the SACRED MUSIC MAGAZINE—which begins on page 21—explaining the melismatic moræ vocis. In my article, you’ll find the following sentence, which Jeffrey Tucker wrote:

“The Vatican Edition of the Graduale Romanum is now online. I’m happy to report that it is my personal copy that now resides on the CMAA server and is bringing this beautiful book—all 940 pages of it—to the world for the first time, and on its hundredth anniversary.”

Mr. Tucker insisted that I include his words, even though I felt they made me sound arrogant. In any event, if you look in that 1908 Graduale, you will notice how Abbot Pothier included a section called “De Ritibus Servandis In Cantu Missae.” I published an English translation of this document in January of 2017 (cf. Nine Rubrics for Mass in the Extraordinary Form). Here’s what Abbot Pothier says about singing the ALLELUIA:

Translated into English, that means: “If two Alleluias with a verse are to be sung, the first Alleluia is chanted by one or two voices up to the asterisk: the choir then repeats the Alleluia and adds the neume (or “jubilus”), drawing out the syllable “A.” The Cantors sing the Verse, which is completed in full chorus from the asterisk, as before. The Verse done, the Cantor or Cantors repeat the Alleluia, and the chorus adds the neume only.”

However, we never follow that. We always have the entire choir repeat the final Alleluia, from beginning to end. If you ask me why I don’t do it correctly, I don’t really have a good answer; we just don’t.

Here is how it’s supposed to be done:

On the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we did it correctly for the first time ever!

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: De Ritibus Servandis, melismatic morae vocis, Propers Our Lady Guadalupe Last Updated: December 17, 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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20 January 2021 • REMINDER

We have no savings, no endowment, and no major donors. You can help us (please) by subscribing to our mailing list. It’s incredibly easy; just scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address. Thank you!

—Jeff Ostrowski
19 January 2021 • Confusion over feasts

For several months, we have discussed the complicated history of the various Christmas feasts: the Baptism of the Lord, the feast of the Holy Family, the Epiphany, and so forth. During a discussion, someone questioned my assertion that in some places Christmas had been part of the Epiphany. As time went on, of course, the Epiphany came to represent only three “manifestations” (Magi, Cana, Baptism), but this is not something rigid. For example, if you look at this “Capital E” from the feast of the Epiphany circa 1350AD, you can see it portrays not three mysteries but four—including PHAGIPHANIA when Our Lord fed the 5,000. In any event, anyone who wants proof the Epiphany used to include Christmas can read this passage from Dom Prosper Guéranger.

—Jeff Ostrowski
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

Random Quote

“How can we account for differences in the Gospel accounts? Well, suppose after we left Church today, there was a terrible accident or explosion or fire. Soon the news media would be here, interviewing people as to what they saw or heard. Each person would probably say or report what struck him—or what he saw or noticed. All these reports would be different and yet they would be true.”

— Fr. Valentine Young (February 2019)

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