• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • About
  • Symposium
  • Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Is This Really The Same Church??

Jeff Ostrowski · February 24, 2021

ESEARCHING organ accompaniments for a famous Lenten hymn—Attende Domine—I stumbled across something strange. In Würtzburg, Saint Augustine Catholic Church renovated their church building about ten years ago, and the town went crazy when the results were released. There were riots, and the faithful kept writing angry criticisms in the Church’s guestbook. Here’s how the Church looked in the 1930s and 1970s:

71111-cathedral
71109-1970s

Here’s how it looks after being “renovated” in 2010:

Sources: here and here

Can anyone send more (high resolution) photographs of what the Church used to look like? Search for: “Kirche der Augustiner in Würzburg.” It’s difficult to find photographs because the 13th-century building has undergone many restorations through the centuries, especially after the Allied fire bombing of Würzburg on 16 March 1945. Online it says: “It was not until the September 2010 revamping that it deviated from the Baroque design by adopting the communion model as an architecture concept; that’s why the Altar is on the same level as the people.” Leave your comments in the Facebook combox. Thanks!

By the way, the organist at Saint Augustine’s in Würzburg is phenomenal. Listen to him accompany “Attende Domine” in German:

*  Mp3 Download • Clever Organ Accompaniment
—Recorded at the Augustinian Church in Würzburg.

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

Follow the Discussion on Facebook

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Augustinian Church Wurzburg Last Updated: February 24, 2021

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

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).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

23 May 2022 • FEEDBACK

From a reader: “I wasn’t looking for it. But, I stumbled across your hand-dandy arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon. Jeff, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread! I had to play a wedding on Saturday. The bride requested the Canon. There were 11 bridesmaids! The organ loft is a football field away from the communion rail. It’s so difficult to play and keep checking the mirror. Your arrangement is absolutely genius. One can skip and choose which variations to use. The chord names are handy so that when my eyes are off the music, I always know where I am at. A thousand times thank you for sharing this arrangement!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
19 May 2022 • “Trochee Trouble”

I’m still trying to decide how to visually present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores, using what is (technically) the official rhythm of the Church. You can download my latest attempt, for this coming Sunday. Notice the “trochee trouble” as well as the old issue of neumes before the quilisma.

—Jeff Ostrowski
16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The sun’s disc did not remain immobile. This was not the sparkling of a heavenly body, for it spun round on itself in a mad whirl, when suddenly a clamor was heard from all the people. The sun, whirling, seemed to loosen itself from the firmament and advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge fiery weight. The sensation during those moments was terrible.”

— ‘Dr. Almeida Garrett, professor of natural sciences at the University of Coimbra (1917)’

Recent Posts

  • Review • A Catholic Book of Hymns
  • 23 May 2022 • FEEDBACK
  • PDF Download • “A Canon Choirs Love!”
  • On Mistakes (Part I of II)
  • 19 May 2022 • “Trochee Trouble”

Copyright © 2022 Corpus Christi Watershed · Gabriel Lalemant on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.