Views from the Choir Loft

Mass and Motets

Veronica Brandt · March 18, 2023

When we were starting a schola at Lawson, a retired priest gave me a copy of this little booklet, Mass and Motets for Mixed Voices, By Polyphonic Masters. This was printed by The Advocate Press, 143-151 a’Beckett Street, Melbourne, Australia. I had assumed it was an Australian compilation, but someone has found parallels with offerings by Kalmus, which I haven’t been able to confirm. Then I noticed the German notes in a few places.

It was printed before printing publishing dates was a thing, so I’m guessing it’s about 1940-ish.

In the past, I had sung from photocopies from this booklet with different choirs, without knowing the source. So many pieces are familiar, I look forward to getting to know the remainder.

Someone asked me to scan it, but if Kalmus is selling it, then maybe that’s not the best. Also, it’s quite a cramped typesetting to shoe-horn as much music as possible into 32 pages. Also, the pieces are available elsewhere on the internet, all except the Gloria from Antonio Lotti’s Missa Brevis for 4 voices in C. The booklet calls it Missa (dorisch), but Lotti’s Masses get many mixed up names in different editions.

So, here are all the pieces with links.

Missa (dorisch) – Mass and Motets includes the Gloria, but this link doesn’t.
Adoramus Te Clemens non Papa
Adoramus Te Francesco Rosselli
Ave Regina Caelorum Antonio Lotti
Ave Verum Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Cantate Domino Giuseppe Pitoni
Christus Factus Est Felice Anerio
Ecce, quomodo moritur, Jacob Handl Gallus
Hodie nobis coelorum Rex Giovanni Bernardino Nanino
In nomine Jesu Jacob Handl Gallus
Istorum est Claudio Casciolini
Jesu, dulcis memoria Tomás Luis de Victoria
O bone Jesu Marco Antonio Ingegneri
O Domine Jesu Christe Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
O Jesu Christe Rinaldo del Mel
O Redemptor Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
O vos omnes Giovanni Croce
Popule meus Tomás Luis de Victoria
Regina Caeli Antonio Lotti
Tantum Ergo Giovanni Matteo Asola
Tantum Ergo Palestrina? – printed in the English Hymnal Clearer pdf from Musescore
Veni sancte Spiritus Sethus Calvisius
Veni Creator Spiritus Claudio Casciolini

And here are some photos:

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

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).

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

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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