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Views from the Choir Loft

Start the New Year Right with a Spectacular Alleluia

Keven Smith · December 28, 2020

ITURGY IS, FIRST AND FOREMOST, an act of public worship. It also happens to be a skilled teacher. That’s the great thing about being Catholic. Our liturgy doesn’t patronize us by conforming to what we like; it challenges us by giving us what we need.

Of course, liturgy sometimes exalts the spirit beyond what we think possible. A perfect example is the Alleluia chant for the upcoming Octave of the Nativity (Extraordinary Form).

Now, if you asked me to list my favorite Alleluias of the liturgical year, I’ll admit I would have to put Pascha Nostrum (Easter Sunday) in the top position. Even if Holy Mother Church had given us a pedestrian melody for this chant, the fact that we get to sing it on Easter morning—after 40 days of suffering—would increase its poignancy. But the Church has provided for us musically. Pascha Nostrum is nothing short of dramatic. Something about the incipit has always made me want to start it off pianissimo as if our ears can hardly believe we’re hearing the “A” word again. The verse is stunning. The melisma on “immolatus” is one of the most florid of the entire liturgical year. The fireworks are justified; our Pasch has been sacrificed. Our Lord has paid the debt of our sins. Satan loses—then, now, and forever.

But Multifarie Olim (Octave of the Nativity) would be a not-too-distant second. Based on sheer musical merits, it’s easily the equal of Pascha Nostrum. The jubilus is brimming with energy. The verse begins with the same melody but then….soars. The text ties up the Christmas Octave perfectly:

God, who in divers manners spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all in these days hath spoken to us by His Son. (Heb 1: 1-2)

At this point you might ask, “Why do we sing such straightforward Alleluias for each of the three Masses of Christmas and put off this gem until the Octave?” This is where the Church teaches us. Even as our neighbors began tossing their Christmas trees onto the curb on December 26, we Catholics knew that the Christmas celebration had just begun. Big feasts have octaves, during which we’re encouraged to maintain the festivities for a full eight days.

The Octave of the Nativity underscores this point by prescribing propers identical to those of the Christmas Mass of the Day—except for this spectacular Alleluia, which it has kept hidden away like a final surprise gift.

The Gradual and Alleluia are supposed to prepare us to hear the Gospel. If the Alleluia encourages us to listen attentively, then it has done its job. That’s exactly what Multifarie Olim does. In fact, I remember singing it in Fresno years ago while I had guests in town. Both were non-practicing Catholics, but they came to the sung Mass with me. As the Alleluia verse soared higher and higher, the melody moved them to tears.

If you’re attending an Extraordinary Form Mass for New Year’s Day 2021 and live in an area where you’re allowed to sing, savor this Alleluia. May we all sing it with gusto on New Year’s Day 2022.

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

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Beauty in the Catholic Liturgy, Gregorian Chant Last Updated: December 29, 2020

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About Keven Smith

Keven Smith, music director at St. Stephen the First Martyr, lives in Sacramento with his wife and five musical children.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
    EVIN ALLEN was commissioned by Sacred Music Symposium 2025 to compose a polyphonic ‘middle section’ for the GLORIA from Mass III, often denoted by its trope name: Missa Kyrie Deus sempiterne. This year, I’m traveling from Singapore to serve on the symposium faculty. I will be conducting Palestrina’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as teaching plainsong to the men. A few days ago, I was asked to record rehearsal videos for this beautiful polyphonic extension. (See below.) This polyphonic composition fits ‘inside’ GLORIA III. That is, the congregation sings for the beginning and end, but the choir alone adds polyphony to the middle. The easiest way to understand how everything fits together is by examining this congregational insert. You may download the score, generously made available to the whole world—free of charge—by CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED:
    *  PDF Download • Gloria III ‘Middle Section’ (Kevin Allen)
    Free rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #24366. Related News • My colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, composed an organ accompaniment for this same GLORIA a few months ago. Obviously, the organist should drop out when the polyphony is being sung.
    —Corrinne May
    “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

Quick Thoughts

    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

Random Quote

“The Lord’s Prayer, among the Greeks, is said by all the people; among us, by the priest alone.”

— Pope Saint Gregory the Great

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday

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