Views from the Choir Loft

Getting More Mileage out of a Polyphonic Requiem

Patrick Williams · January 15, 2023

HILE IT IS PRAISEWORTHY for every Catholic choir to have a polyphonic setting of the Missa pro defunctis in its repertory, Requiems are of little practical use in comparison with other polyphonic Masses. Funeral Masses are often scheduled for weekday mornings, when it may be difficult to have an SATB quartet present, let alone full choir. Many choirs only have the opportunity to sing a choral Requiem Mass liturgically on All Souls’ Day—and some parishes don’t even offer that. At Mater Misericordiae in Phoenix, we have a Requiem High Mass annually for the repose of the soul of Fr. Kenneth Walker, FSSP, who was murdered here in 2014 at the age of 28. Requiescat in pace! Other than those two Masses in June and November, most of our Requiems are actual funeral Masses sung in Gregorian chant by the men’s schola alone, or sometimes by only a couple of cantors.

The Kyrie, Sanctus, and Benedictus of the Requiem Mass can be sung any day of the year. The Requiem Mass lacks Gloria and Credo, but it has an Agnus Dei with a different text than usual. Fortunately, dona eis requiem has only one more syllable than miserere nobis or dona nobis pacem; either text can easily be substituted in most settings. The final dona eis requiem would require a more thorough reworking, but that is unnecessary with the addition of a chant setting for one of the invocations. For my choir’s use during Lent this year, I adapted the Missa pro defunctis of Giovanni Francesco Anerio (1569–1630) as a Missa brevis. See what you think. I welcome reader feedback before I finalize this edition and upload it to CPDL. Feel free to sing, study, duplicate, record, rearrange, or imitate! I hope to be able to share a rehearsal recording in the coming weeks, perhaps with a comparison of my choir’s first rough read-through (about a quarter of the choir is new since November!) and a more polished version ready for Mass. In the meantime, you may be interested in the recording by the Westminster Cathedral Choir under the direction of James O’Donnell.

* PDF Download • MISSA BREVIS adapted from MISSA PRO DEFUNCTIS by G.F. ANERIO (6 Pages)
—for SATB choir, a cappella

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

“Music List” • Christ the King Sunday

Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 23 November 2025, which is the 34th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. In the 1970 Missal, this Sunday is known as: Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Universorum Regis (“Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe”). As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the magnificent feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Simplified” Keyboard Accompaniment (PDF)

I’d much rather hear an organist play a simplified version correctly than listen to wrong notes. I invite you to download this simplified organ accompaniment for hymn #729 in the Father Brébeuf Hymnal. The hymn is “O Jesus Christ, Remember.” I’m toying with the idea of creating a whole bunch of these, to help amateur organists. The last one I uploaded was downloaded more than 1,900 times in a matter of hours—so there seems to be interest in such a project. For the record, this famous text is often married to AURELIA, as it is in the Brébeuf Hymnal. The lyrics come from the pen of Father Edward Caswall (d. 1878), an Oratorian priest.

—Jeff Ostrowski

‘Bogey’ of the Half-Educated: Paraphrase

Father Adrian Porter, using the cracher dans la soupe example, did a praiseworthy job explaining the difference between ‘dynamic’ and ‘formal’ translation. This is something Monsignor Ronald Knox explained time and again—yet even now certain parties feign ignorance. I suppose there will always be people who pretend the only ‘valid’ translation of Mitigásti omnem iram tuam; avertísti ab ira indignatiónis tuæ… would be “You mitigated all ire of you; you have averted from your indignation’s ire.” Those who would defend such a translation suffer from an unfortunate malady. One of my professors called it “cognate on the brain.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Reminder” — Month of November (2025)

On a daily basis, I speak to people who don’t realize we publish a free newsletter (although they’ve followed our blog for years). We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and refuse to run annoying ads. As a result, our mailing list is crucial to our survival. Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Gospel Options for 2 November (“All Souls”)

We’ve been told some bishops are suppressing the TLM because of “unity.” But is unity truly found in the MISSALE RECENS? For instance, on All Souls (2 November), any of these Gospel readings may be chosen, for any reason (or for no reason at all). The same is true of the Propria Missæ and other readings—there are countless options in the ORDINARY FORM. In other words, no matter which OF parish you attend on 2 November, you’ll almost certainly hear different propers and readings, to say nothing of different ‘styles’ of music. Where is the “unity” in all this? Indeed, the Second Vatican Council solemnly declared: “Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community.”

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Our Father” • Musical Setting?

Looking through a Roman Catholic Hymnal published in 1859 by Father Guido Maria Dreves (d. 1909), I stumbled upon this very beautiful tune (PDF file). I feel it would be absolutely perfect to set the “Our Father” in German to music. Thoughts?

—Jeff Ostrowski