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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “Ave Maris Stella” (Organ Accompaniment)

Jeff Ostrowski · August 14, 2021

HEAR from so many church musicians—often via telephone—about what is happening throughout the Catholic Church apropos music, and (sadly) I hear many horror stories. The vocation of a Church musician is frequently filled with obstacles and difficulties. From my friend, Richard J. Clark, I learned that composing can “raise one’s spirits” when things are tough. On Sunday afternoon, I had 20 minutes to compose an accompaniment for the Purification Vespers Hymn (“Ave Maris Stella”), and I really had fun. I hope you like it.

I wrote out each verse, just like the choral supplement of the Brébeuf Hymnal does:

*  PDF Download • “Ave Maris Stella” for Organ
—Harmonization by Jeff Ostrowski for Vespers on 2 February 2020.

(Some day, I’d like to create a different harmonization for each verse.)

Did you notice the second part? It has has blank staves, so you can compose your own version:

Some organists will probably “fill in” the bass line, creating pristine descending stepwise motion:

Here are three versions from the NOH, each one slightly different:

*  PDF Download • “Ave Maris Stella” (NOH)
—From the Nova Organi Harmonia.

Here is a version from Achille P. Bragers:

*  PDF Download • “Ave Maris Stella” (Bragers)
—Notice he did not follow the “Brébeuf method” of notating each verse.

This version—by Dom Jean-Hébert Desroquettes, a disciple of Dom Mocquereau—is printed in the New Saint Basil Hymnal. It omits verses, which I find very, very strange:

*  PDF Download • “Ave Maris Stella” (Desroquettes)
—Notice he did not follow the “Brébeuf method” of notating each verse.

Finally, here’s a version printed circa 1910 by a man named Ignace Müller, whom I know nothing about:

*  PDF Download • “Ave Maris Stella” (Müller)
—Notice he did not follow the “Brébeuf method” of notating each verse.

My posting these examples—which are of historical interest—does not indicate an endorsement; e.g. the one by Müller is horrible.

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Ave Maris Stella, Vespers Organist Scores Last Updated: August 14, 2021

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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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Quick Thoughts

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
14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

A hymn verse need not be a complete sentence, but it must have completed sense as a recognisable part of the complete sentence, and at each major pause there would be at least a “sense-pause.” Saint Ambrose and the early writers and centonists always kept to this rule. This indicates one of the differences between a poem and a hymn, and by this standard most of the modern hymns and the revisions of old hymns in the Breviary stand condemned.

— Fr. Joseph Connelly

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