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Views from the Choir Loft

Revealed! • Kevin Allen’s Setting of the “Confíteor Deo Omnipoténti” (SATB) for Compline

Andrea Leal · May 16, 2023

EVIN ALLEN. So many musicians would not be able to run their choral programs without his compositions. During last year’s Sacred Music Symposium, our organization was chosen to premiere his new collection for three voices: Stowe Missal Eucharistic Motets. Many consider his Motecta Trium Vocum to be peerless in the genre of equal voice choral music (“AD AEQUALES”). His Matri Divinæ Gratiæ—a collection for Soprano, Alto, and Bass—is essential for any choirmaster who directs volunteers. At Symposium 2023, we will be singing from Maestro Allen’s Cantiones Sacrae Simplices, a collection often selected by the Sistine Chapel Choir (Vatican City).

“Confíteor Déo Omnipoténti” • At this year’s Symposium, we will sing COMPLINE each night. That’s a change. At all previous symposia, we have sung VESPERS. Normally at Compline, the Confíteor is sung on a single note. Frankly, that method usually sounds poor. Our organization, therefore, commissioned from Kevin Allen a special setting of the Confíteor which will be sung each night during COMPLINE. I find this melody hauntingly gorgeous. See if you agree:

 Rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #40505.

Clarification • Readers of our blog recently took part in a survey. We received many excellent answers, for which we are grateful. However, I have been asked to make a clarification. The people who took the survey were supposed to search the Brébeuf Portal for the hymn tune “MELCOMBE.” Then they were asked to comment about the strategy of shared melodies. Several people gave answers we did not expect. They said: “Using all the shared melodies each week will lead to boredom on the part of the congregation.” However, that answer misses the point completely. Nobody is saying that 100% of the “shared melody” hymns must be used. The idea is, they are available when you need them! For instance, the feast of the ASCENSION is coming up in a few days. If your choir already knows a “shared melody” in SATB, the Brébeuf hymnal gives you options! Or, consider the choirmaster who plays more than five Masses each weekend. Not all the Masses will have a choir, so these “shared melodies” will be invaluable for some (not all) of the Masses.

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

Filed Under: Articles, Featured, PDF Download Tagged With: Composer Kevin Allen, Confiteor Deo Omnipotenti, Musical Setting CONFITEOR Last Updated: May 16, 2023

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About Andrea Leal

Andrea Leal is a wife and homeschooling mother of 6 children. She serves as choir director for the Traditional Latin Mass in Las Vegas.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for Pentecost Sunday (8 June 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. Because our choir is on break this week, the music is relatively simple.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Truly Great Processional” • (Pipe Organ)
    I stumbled upon this live recording of a PROCESSIONAL I played on the pipe organ in 2002. It’s an excerpt from a much longer composition by Sebastian Bach. In those days, there weren’t sophisticated recording devices allowing one “fix” wrong notes. (Perhaps they existed, but we didn’t have machines like that.) So it was necessary to play the entire piece from beginning to end. If you’re a church organist, feel free to download the PDF score. I suppose it’s only a matter of time until some joker uses “artificial intelligence” to play music at church … but there’s something so satisfying about playing an organ in real life.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    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
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

“Pope Francis breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants because he is free from disordered attachments. Our Church has indeed entered a new phase: with the advent of this first Jesuit pope, it is openly ruled by an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture.”

— Fr. Thomas Rosica (31 July 2018)

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
  • “Participation” • Recovering its Receptive Dimension
  • “Breathtaking Photographs” • First Mass of Father Michael Caughey, FSSP (Muskegon, MI)

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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.

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