• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Vespers for Easter Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

Veronica Brandt · March 25, 2023

I HAVE the good fortune to be joining in a Homeschooler Retreat during Easter Week. We have a chaplain from the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter and the prospect of a week full of Sung Masses, Benediction, Rosaries and fun. This year there was a suggestion to add in Sung Vespers, possibly Wednesday, Thursday and/or Friday.

Albert Bloomfield has a huge collection of printables for Vespers and Tenebrae as previously mentioned on this blog. The target Vespers are very much like that for Easter Sunday, which has a 7 page booklet all ready as a PDF. The only thing required was to adjust the last page to change the Magnificat Antiphon, the mode for the Magnificat verses and the Collect.

The easy way would be to make a separate last page, but, as the rest of the booklet was made using LaTeX and Gregorio, I embarked on the task of updating and editing Albert Bloomfield’s gabc-chant Source Code. The project was last updated 9 years ago. Gregorio has changed a lot over those years. Some updates are simple substitutions, but others are more involved and some code is still a bit of a mystery to me.

This is the beauty of Open Source Software. When someone provides access to their work, then it can be preserved, adapted, and built upon. This case may not have saved me much time, but has made a much more handsome booklet and given me a window into a very different way of organizing big gregorio projects.

I have “forked” Albert Bloomfield’s repository, which means I have my own copy which links back to the original repository. Github tracks the changes. As of writing, I have changed 79 files with 8,993 additions and 387 deletions. I think many of those files are the intermediary files1 which I have been too lazy to exclude from the repository. This may have inflated the numbers. It did feel like quite a bit of work though.

  • EasterWedThursFri – this one is basically Easter Sunday with a heading saying “Easter Week” – I’ll use the first 6 pages and then the last page of the following 3 PDFs.
  • EasterWednesday
  • EasterThursday
  • EasterFriday

You may notice I also changed the page dimensions to A4 as US Letter paper is nigh impossible to obtain here in Australia. This is something I love about having access to the source code and being able to adapt existing work. This doesn’t happen very often in the world of sheet music – the Choral Public Domain Library being a notable exception.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to this global collaboration making it possible to prepare Gregorian chant scores like this!


NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   The software creates auxilliary files each time changes are made. Some examples are filenames ending with .aux, .gtex, .log, .glog, .toc, .ind, .idx. The original repository excludes most of these, but some, like .gtex files were a more recent development.

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

Follow the Discussion on Facebook

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: March 25, 2023

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

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).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    PDF • “For the Season of Pentecost”
    During the season of Pentecost, you might consider using this 2-page Piece “for the season of Pentecost.” Rehearsal videos are available at #40691, but the lyrics are different. Therefore, make sure your choir members understand that one can rehearse songs that have different lyrics (“CONTRAFACT”).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • (This Coming Sunday)
    Our volunteer choir appreciates training videos, so here's my attempt at recording “Exáudi Dómine Vocem Meam,” which is the INTROIT for this coming Sunday. This coming Sunday is Dominica Post Ascensionem (“Sunday after the feast of the Ascension”). It is sung according to the official rhythm of the Catholic Church.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Volunteer Choir Attempts “Kýrie Eléison”
    My volunteer choir attempted the polyphonic KYRIE that will be sung at this year's Sacred Music Symposium. If you're interested, you can listen to the live recording from last Sunday. The piece is based on the ancient plainchant hymn melody: Ave Maris Stella. Polyphony like this is truly intricate and wonderful. It reminds me of the quote by Artur Schnabel: “music that's greater than it can be performed.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

And since it is becoming that holy things be administered in a holy manner, and of all things this sacrifice is the most holy, the Catholic Church, to the end that it might be worthily and reverently offered and received, instituted many centuries ago the holy canon, which is so free from error that it contains nothing that does not in the highest degree savor of a certain holiness and piety and raise up to God the minds of those who offer.

— Council of Trent (1562)

Recent Posts

  • PDF • “For the Season of Pentecost”
  • The Choir Journal: A Choir Director’s Best Friend
  • “Are Church Musicians Paid Enough?” • 5 Solutions
  • Analysis • “Archaic and Quack Ideas on Chant”
  • “Singing Advice” • Frank Sinatra to Ronald Reagan

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.