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Views from the Choir Loft

(Ladies Singing Low) • “Adding Fifths Above”

Jeff Ostrowski · January 21, 2021

ISHOP RUDOLF GRABER, who participated in the Second Vatican Council, asked in 1985: “Where do the conciliar texts speak of communion in the hand, for example, or where do they enjoin the so-called altar facing the people, which is scant testimony to that ‘giving perfect glory to God’ which the liturgy constitution says (paragraph 5) is the goal and purpose of worship? The answer is: Nowhere.” From the testimony of Father Robert Skeris, we learn that Graber went on to mention other items in the same category: elimination of the subdiaconate and the four minor orders; the monotonous enumeration of “Sundays in ordinary time”; de facto abandonment of Latin as liturgical language of the western Church; elimination of the second imposition of hands during priestly ordination, and many others. If Bishop Graber (1903-1992) were alive, he might be surprised to see that so many “pre-conciliar” items—Communion under one species and replying AMEN, congregational singing, extraordinary ministers, the congregational Pax, and so forth—have now been forbidden by the same bishops who previously said such items were absolutely crucial.

Covid-19 has caused choirmasters enormous difficulties. Here in Los Angeles, we have been “locked down” since March: restaurants closed, gyms closed, parks closed, nightly police curfew, and so on. There are constant changes to what we are permitted to do. Last Sunday, we sang some plainsong accompanied by the organ. Here’s an excerpt:

*  Mp3 Download • Kyrie IV (excerpt)
—Organ Accompaniment taken from the Saint Edmund Campion Missal.

We tried to add a little “solemnity” to this piece by having the ladies sing a perfect fifth above on every other verse, as you can (marker 0:22) hear:

(That style mimics “organum” but—despite what some erroneously claim—it isn’t. Authentic organum is a mixture of fifths, fourths, and octaves.)

When Does Christmas End?

When does the season of Christmas end? Dom Prosper Guéranger was quite clear: “We apply the name of CHRISTMAS to the forty days, which begin with the Nativity of our Lord, December 25th, and end with the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, February 2nd.” In my article on the difficult Christmas feasts, we spoke about how the Consilium ad Exsequendam Constitutionem de Sacra Liturgia [“Commission to implement the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy”] could not decide when the Christmas season ended. Bishop Graber spoke of the monotonous enumeration of “Sundays in ordinary time”—that’s because prior to the Second Vatican Council, Sundays had a “marked character” (either post Epiphaniam or post Pentecosten). In the Ordinary Form, “tempus per annum” begins after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and many people think shortening the season of Christmas like that is an impoverishment. As far as the Extraordinary Form is concerned, the season of Christmas lasts until 2 February.

We are not allowed to sing English during the High Mass, so we often sing Latin words to the melodies in the Brébeuf hymnal. Sometimes the Brébeuf Hymnal “demonstrates” how this can be done by providing English and Latin:

Here’s how that piece sounds—recognize the tune?

*  Mp3 Download • Brébeuf Hymn #761
—We are not allowed to sing English during the High Mass.

When it comes to great hymns for Christmas, Epiphany, and Ordinary Time (“per annum”), the Brébeuf hymnal is peerless. If that book had been available when I started as a Church musician, my life would have been so much easier and perhaps I wouldn’t have the physical problems I currently do, which were a result of extreme stress. I cannot think of any Catholic hymnal that comes close to the Brébeuf in terms of quality…it truly is on a pedestal.

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

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Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 21, 2021

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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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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

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“To me nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Masses for ever, and not be tired.”

— John Henry Cardinal Newman (1848)

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