Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “Puer Natus In Bethlehem” — Simple Christmas Hymn (2 Pages)

Jeff Ostrowski · January 3, 2021

E HAVE HAD MUCH TO SAY regarding accompaniment for plainsong. When it’s done well, it enhances the beauty of the chant—but only for certain modes (Mode 8, Mode 7, Mode 1, and so on). But for certain modes, I feel accompaniment is deleterious (e.g. Mode 5). Below is one of my favorite Gregorian chant hymns for Christmas: “Puer Natus In Bethlehem, Alleluia.” I see that Achille P. Bragers has written an accompaniment for it, but I strongly endorse singing it a cappella—I can’t really explain why.

* PDF Download • MUSICAL SCORE
—Taken from “Mass & Vespers” (Abbey of Solesmes, 1957).

* Mp3 Download • Recording By Monks
—Dom Gajard worked with these monks, and the “sound” reflects his influence.

My choir sings the men in unison (starting on D-Natural) and adds the women (singing in their low register)—on odd verses—a perfect fifth above—and it sounds incredible.

It’s a medieval Latin Christmas hymn whose text and melody seems to date from around 1350AD.

By the way, “Mass and Vespers” (Solesmes Abbey, 1957) was created by French-speakers, and sometimes it shows. Look how they hyphenate the word “house” in stanza #8.

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

Follow the Discussion on Facebook

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).

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski

15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski

15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski