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Views from the Choir Loft

Splendid Repertoire for (Reduced) Summer Choirs!

Jeff Ostrowski · July 25, 2023

NCOMFORTABLE. Having one’s assumptions challenged can be uncomfortable. For example, feminists complain that our society is male-dominated and plead for “equality in outcome” vis-à-vis men and women. However, they suddenly become uncomfortable when somebody reminds them that most people in prison are men, most people who commit suicide are men, and most victims of violent crime are men. I came to an uncomfortable realization twenty years ago while studying at the conservatory. I realized that most of my life had been dedicated to studying piano—a percussion instrument—and was necessary to learn new skills if I wanted to become a decent singer.

Crucial Choral Technique • Whenever one strikes a piano note, it can’t get louder. Since the piano is a percussion instrument, the tone will inevitably decay (i.e. get softer), whereas instruments such as the violin are capable of producing a crescendo. For instance, when singing a note such as the one below (highlighted by pink) a good singer will start very softly and then crescendo:

I consider this technique to be absolutely crucial for singers. Unfortunately, one must sing a lot before it becomes second nature. The conscientious choirmaster attempting to teach this technique to singers will notice they do the crescendo well but always forget to get soft at the beginning.

Repertoire for “Summer” Choirs • During the summertime, many choirs take a break. Our choir is no exception—and I truly believe it’s both healthy and necessary for volunteers to take time off during the summer. Nevertheless, even during summertime we’re still responsible for two sung Masses each Sunday. For these Masses, we sometimes have a small group of singers. Where can we find choral repertoire that sounds good even with just a few singers? One excellent source is the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal. Last Sunday, I asked the singers to start softly and then crescendo on the long notes in the following hymn. Do you agree they did well?

To access this hymn’s media in the Brébeuf Portal, click here.

Beautiful Hymn Tune • That hymn tune is called THAXTED. According to the Brébeuf footnote, the name came from a church—in a town called “Thaxted”—where Gustav Holst (d. 1934) served as organist. I believe the Brébeuf Hymnal uses the THAXTED melody more than any other hymnal. You can see this by searching the Brébeuf Portal for “Thaxted.”

Evil Texts? • Several ‘progressive’ hymnals set THAXTED to other lyrics. I tend to be wary of the big publishing companies. Many of the songs they promote contain melodies (and lyrics!) composed by people who publicly lead immoral lives or dissent from Catholic teaching.1 Indeed, many of their ‘hymns’ contain heresy—which I find troubling. Is the Catholic Church so desperate for melodies and lyrics we must get them from such people? How can that be, when the Catholic Church has—without question—produced the world’s greatest music for centuries? Moreover, she has produced the most beautiful texts for 2,000 years. Think of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Robert Southwell, Saint Ambrose, and so on. I would have considerable difficulty singing lyrics at Mass (!) written by someone known to be living an immoral life. What a consolation it is to read the list of translators in the Brébeuf Hymnal: Monsignor Knox, Father Husenbeth, Dom Wallace, Archbishop Bagshawe, Father Fitzpatrick, Father Popplewell, Father Caswall, Father Schrader, Cardinal Newman, Monsignor Henry, Father Hopkins, Father Collins, and so forth.

Father Valentine Young, OFM • Whenever someone had been honored or recognized publicly for excellence, Father Valentine would exclaim: “Well, at least I can say that I know famous people!” His words came to my mind a few minutes ago. I was researching the THAXTED melody, and look what I discovered:

*  PDF Download • Our Contributor’s Name!

Respect Volunteer Singers! • I believe it’s crucial to give your volunteer singers a break. That is to say: it’s not healthy to have your volunteers sing constantly without ever taking a break. The choirmaster who never gives his singers a break, has them report to the church twice weekly (even during summertime), and forces them to arrive an hour before each Mass (even during summertime) will observe his choir shrink and shrink, in my humble opinion. People are busy trying to raise their children in a world which no longer pays a “living” wage. The conscientious choirmaster must be aware of this reality.

Practical Advice • Since rehearsal time is severely limited during summertime, one might consider “shared hymn tunes.” For example, this was our PROCESSIONAL HYMN last Sunday:

To access this hymn’s media in the Brébeuf Portal, click here.

And this was our RECESSIONAL HYMN (notice we added the Alto line):

To access this hymn’s media in the Brébeuf Portal, click here.

Speaking of the Piano • Toward the beginning of this article, I spoke about how different the piano is from the violin. But the piano is an instrument I love very much, to which I dedicated years of my life. In my articles, I have often expressed my belief that JOSEF HOFMANN was the greatest pianist (and most phenomenal interpreter) who ever lived. Whenever Sergei Rachmaninoff would hear Hofmann play a piece, he would immediately drop it from his repertoire and never play it again. Hofmann’s level of talent was unfathomably mind-boggling, and words can’t describe it. As Abram Chasins said: “Compared to Hofmann, even the greatest pianists in the world sounded like students.” If you think I’m making this up, here are some people who share my opinion: Anton Rubinstein, Charles Welles Rosen, Mark Arnest, Olga Samaroff, Geoffrey Dorfman, Jorge Bolet, and Harold C. Schonberg.

Proof I’m Correct • Ruth Slenczynska was a famous prodigy who began giving public concerts (!) at the age of four. Her teachers included: Artur Schnabel, Egon Petri, Josef Hofmann, Isabelle Vengerova, Marguerite Long, Alfred Cortot, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Slenczynska’s debut took place in Berlin (at the age of six) and a year later she made her Paris debut with a full orchestra. Here’s what Ruth Slenczynska had to say about Josef Hofmann:

Once, Rachmaninoff was too sick to play a concert he had scheduled in Los Angeles. At the last minute, little Ruth Slenczynska—only nine years old—stepped in and played his concert for him. She played the exact program he was supposed to have played!

1 The information shared by Andrea Leal on 13 January 2023 was deeply troubling. But should we really be surprised? After all, G.I.A. PUBLICATIONS is owned and operated by a family that’s not Catholic. I don’t have anything to add to what Andrea published back in January. Especially disturbing was the video she shared from 2016 wherein the president of G.I.A. PUBLICATIONS said publicly: “I’ve had the honor to work with these three wonderful people [Marty Haugen, Michael Joncas, and David Haas] for more than 30 years, and I can’t overestimate the profound impact that they’ve all had for me personally, for everyone at G.I.A. PUBLICATIONS, and for the worshiping church at large.” What exactly does that mean? What precisely is this “profound impact” David Haas had on all their employees for 30+ years? When he says “he cannot overestimate” the influence David Haas had on all the employees, what precisely does that mean? It was recently revealed that exclusive publishing rights (!) were given to G.I.A. PUBLICATIONS vis-à-vis the new translation of the Liturgy of the Hours. Why was a non-Catholic company given exclusive copyright over the text of the Liturgy of the Hours? Why not make those texts free to all Catholics through a CREATIVE COMMONS license? It’s so disturbing I don’t wish to discuss it any further at this time.

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

Filed Under: Articles, Featured, PDF Download Tagged With: Alec Harris GIA Publications, Common Hymn Melodies, Josef Hofmann Pianist Extraordinaire, Liturgy of the Hours, Ruth Slenczynska, THAXTED HYMN TUNE Last Updated: July 25, 2023

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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 Michigan. —(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

“Although the Mass contains much instruction for the faithful, it has nevertheless not seemed expedient to the fathers that it be celebrated everywhere in the vernacular. The holy synod commands pastors and everyone who has the care of souls to explain frequently during the celebration of the Masses, either themselves or through others, some of the things that are read in the Mass, and among other things to expound some mystery of this most Holy Sacrifice, especially on Sundays and feastdays.”

— ‘Council of Trent, XII:8 (1562)’

Recent Posts

  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
  • “Participation” • Recovering its Receptive Dimension
  • “Breathtaking Photographs” • First Mass of Father Michael Caughey, FSSP (Muskegon, MI)
  • “Truly Great Processional” • (Pipe Organ)

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