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Views from the Choir Loft

Spanish Australian Setting of Salve Joseph

Veronica Brandt · April 30, 2021

For those keen to have a new hymn in Latin for this Year of Saint Joseph, here is the sheet music:

* *  Salve Joseph, one page, chorus + 4 two part verses

Salve Joseph, setting from Dom Esteban Moreno

For those of you who like long winded stories, here follows my search for this hymn.


One of our senior parishoners gave me a list of hymns to include in an upcoming hymnbook. An especial favorite was Salve Joseph, which she had as a short hymn with a Latin chorus and English verses. Searching for the English words on the internet yielded just one copy, in the Eucharistic Booklet for a Celebration of the Life of a Josephite sister from Melbourne:

In Loving Memory of Sr Cathy Dean

The Josephite version was all in English and credited simply “Traditional, Sisters of St Joseph”. The Sisters were founded by Australia’s one and only official Saint and have taught in many schools around the country and even spread to South America. You can probably get a sense of the current vibe of the order from that booklet. I wasn’t sure about contacting them.

The Latin, however, turned out to be part of a much longer hymn, seven stanzas of which appear in The Catholic Youth’s Hymn Book, 1871 and one more in this blog. The music, however, is different in the former and absent in the latter. The latter does however contain an English translation, which I searched for as well and turned up its appearance in a Canadian newspaper (maybe related to the presence of the Oratory of St Joseph there):

From the Canadian Register 1944

Another search for the Latin turned up a recording from an Australian choir – with the same tune that my parishioner remembered:

Schola Cantorum, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Albury, NSW

Contacting the Schola at St Patrick’s came to a dead end, but the notes for their recording credited Esteban Moreno.

But my initial searches for Esteban Moreno proved fruitless. This was because, in Australia, he was more usually known as Dom Stephen Moreno OSB. From Western Australia’s legendary Benedictine Monastery of New Norcia.

My searches stalled for a while, until I happened upon this amazing treasure in a box of Catholic booklets.

So, now I had a similar, but not identical version of the English, plus the music for the hymn.

More searching turned up much more music in the National Library of Australia. As Dom Moreno died in 1953, his music is out of copyright in Australia, unless it was first published after 1 January 1955 – which is hard to ascertain as sheet music from that time seldom carries a date.

Noted composer Dom Stephen Moreno has died in Marseilles. His death was announced yesterday by the Benedictine community, New Norcia. Dom Moreno, who left Fremantle on February 5, was on a holiday visit to Spain, Italy and other European countries. He had been in ill-health for some time before his departure. He died in the Hospital of St. Joseph, Marseilles, and will be buried at the Monastery of St. Benedict at En-Calcat.
Dom Moreno was born in Spain in 1890 and entered the Benedictine order in, 1904.
He was a prolific and internationally-known composer of church music and his works include 21 Masses, 182 Motets, 150 litanies, 84 Offertories and 52 Hymns. Many more of his compositions are still unpublished.
Dom Moreno’s brother Father Henry Moreno OSB, also died while on a visit to Spain some years ago.

Sunday Times, Perth 1953

And here is the result of my investigations, pairing the music from the Saint Benedict Hymnal with the Latin text:

* *  Salve Joseph, one page, chorus + 4 two part verses

New Norcia looks like a lovely place which I hope to visit one day. I also typed up another of Dom Moreno’s pieces, a setting of Adoro Te which splits into 3 parts half way through each verse. His style is very approachable and has a friendly, modern flavor. This could help fledgling choirs gain confidence with singing sacred music in Latin. I look forward to exploring more of his work in the future.

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

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Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: April 30, 2021

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About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    William Byrd • Simple “Agnus Dei” Canon
    Time flies! Back in July, I posted a PDF setting of a perfect canon by William Byrd (d. 1623) arranged as an AGNUS DEI for three voices. Last Sunday, we sang that arrangement with our volunteer choir. To hear a ‘live’ recording of it, click here (Mp3). In my humble opinion, this would be a perfect piece for a choir just beginning to experiment with polyphony.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Glory To God” • (For Choir + Congregation)
    I wish to thank everyone for the nice comments I received vis-à-vis my Glory To God setting for Choir & Congregation. A gentleman with a musical doctorate from Indiana University wrote: “Love this setting so much. And I will pray, as you asked, for your return to composition more fully. You are very very good.” A female choir director wrote: “I love your harmonizations, your musicality, and the wonderful interplay you have with dissonance and consonance in your music. So fun to listen to, and great for intellect, heart, and soul!” A young woman from California wrote: “Thank you for releasing your new Glory To God in honor of Saint Noel Chabanel. I'm enjoying reading through the various parts and listening to your recordings.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    William Byrd • “Mass for Five Voices”
    Our volunteer choir is learning the “Sanctus” from William Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices. You can hear a short excerpt (recorded last Sunday) but please ignore the sound of babies crying: Mp3 recording. We still have work to do—but we’re on the right track. Once we have some of the tuning issues fixed, I desire to use it as an example proving volunteers can sing complicated polyphony. — One of our volunteer choirs also sang that SANCTUS on 24 September 2023, and you can listen to how that came out.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

There is a lack of that kind of organization which favors mature judgment. Move on, move on, get it out. Schemata are multiplied without ever arriving at a considered form. The system of discussion is bad … Often the schemata arrive just before the discussions. Sometimes, and in important matters, such as the new anaphoras, the schema was distributed the evening before the discussion was to take place … Father Bugnini has only one interest: press ahead and finish.

— Cardinal Antonelli (Peritus during the Second Vatican Council)

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