Views from the Choir Loft

Holy Week Chants • Clergy Training

Fr. David Friel · March 13, 2021

OLY WEEK is certainly the most demanding week of the year—ceremonially, musically, and spiritually. From the Passion narratives to the Reproaches to the Exsultet, the music for the week is sublime, but challenging. In an effort to help clergy prepare for their part in the chants of Holy Week, a free online workshop will be offered this coming Thursday evening.

Sponsored by Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast, the training will take place on Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 8 PM (EDT) via the Zoom platform.

The workshop is focused on the English chants of Holy Week according to the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The music to be covered includes the week’s major chants proper to the clergy:

Sung Passions of Palm Sunday (Year B) and Good Friday)
Solemn Intercessions of Good Friday
Chant for the Showing of the Cross
Exsultet
Triple Alleluia and Dismissal of the Easter Vigil

Three presenters will lead this very timely workshop:

Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka (Director of Sacred Music, St. Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers)
Fr. Michael Connolly (Parochial Vicar, St. Columba Church, Hopewell Junction, NY)
Fr. Jon Tveit (Parochial Vicar, St. James the Apostle, Carmel, NY)

The workshop is free, but requires advanced registration. Register here.

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

Follow the Discussion on Facebook

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Music Director Job • $80,000 per year

Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!

—Jeff Ostrowski

Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published

Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Pope Pius XII Hymnal?

Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Hybrid” Chant Notation?

Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

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