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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • Simplified Accompaniment for the famous Hymn: “Praise To The Lord”

Jeff Ostrowski · April 29, 2024

AM TOYING with the idea of creating a whole bunch more “simplified” organ accompaniments for the hymns in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal, to help amateur organists. You can see what I’ve created so far by clicking on the “Simplified Hymn Accompaniment” tag. On average, each one is being downloaded about 2,500 times. The last one I uploaded was downloaded more than 1,900 times in a matter of hours. Therefore, musicians out there seem intrigued by such a project. Earlier this morning, I created a “simplified” version of LOBE DEN HERREN, often sung in English with the lyrics “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!”

*  PDF Download • ORGAN ACCOMPANIMENT (“Simplified”)
—“Praise To The Lord” a.k.a. Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren.

Inspiration For This Project • I’m a person who can’t stand hearing wrong notes. I also hate it when an organist dramatically slows down the tempo in an effort to play all the correct notes (or add pedal notes). I’d much rather hear a simplified accompaniment at the correct tempo. For the record: I’m having way too much fun creating these!

Melody Provenance • According to Monsignor Franz Stemmer, the famous hymn we know as Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (a.k.a. “Lobe Den Herren”) originally came from the Stralsund Gesangbuch (1665), which you can see if you download the Freiburg Cathedral Hymnal (308 Pages).

More To Come • That rare hymnal is only one example of what we’ve located, obtained, scanned, and uploaded for all to enjoy. Currently, we’ve added about 56,000 pages to the public domain—all of them extremely rare and valuable sacred music. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity. We exist solely by the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment; we have no major donors; we run no advertisements; we have no savings. Please alert others to what we’re trying to accomplish. Also, we beg you to consider donating $3.00 per month. Thank you!

A Note On Transcription (1 of 2) • According to Vladimir Horowitz, Ferruccio Busoni (d. 1924) was once introduced as “Mr. Bach Busoni” at a party. That’s because his Bach transcriptions were so famous in those days.1 There’s an art to transcribing, just as there’s an art to making simplified versions. Sometimes people intend to simplify a piece but end up making it harder. That’s because proper voice-leading is idiomatic for the keyboard player.

A Note On Transcription (2 of 2) • Those of us on scholarship at the conservatory were forced to accompany a number of singers and instrumentalists each semester during their juries. If we failed to do so, our scholarship was taken away. I wasn’t very good at it, but acting as accompanist did introduce me to composers I wouldn’t have otherwise experienced, such a Paul Hindemith (d. 1963). The faculty knew we had to serve as accompanists without payment. Some were abusive. I remember Larry Maxey (a clarinet professor) bullying the “free” accompanists in a way that made my blood boil. Indeed, I’ll never forget the time I accompanied the jury for an absolutely terrible singer. [She was a “party girl” who only attended college because her father had been a faculty member—and she dropped out after two semesters.] During her jury, I shortened the ending of the piece. In other words, after the singer had finished singing, the accompanist was supposed to play a brief interlude … but it was a poorly-transcribed orchestral reduction. It just wasn’t idiomatic, and I figured the jury didn’t want to hear me butcher it. So I improvised an ending—to cover up my inadequacy—which caused one judge to go into a rage. Instead of focusing on the singer (which is what he was supposed to be doing during her jury) he started viciously interrogating me: “How dare you change the ending to that piece! I’ve never heard it that way before; did you change the score? Etc.” Looking back, I suppose I could have responded: “I was just being authentic because all the pianists in those days improvised everything.” […which is true; e.g. they never took a “repeat” without adding all kinds of ornamentation and other things.] But I was just a young college kid who knew very little—so I just sat there speechless, with an embarrassed look on my face.

The head of the voice faculty at that time was DR. JOHN STEPHENS, a renowned singer who’d performed in famous halls like the METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE. Dr. Stephens came to my rescue. Glaring at his junior colleague—in his deep basso profondo voice—he said one word: “Enough!”

1 For the record, circa 1950 some pedantic dogmatist came along and decided “real” pianists were no longer allowed to play transcriptions. But all the masters had done so: Hofmann, Rachmaninoff, Godowsky, Lhevinne, and so forth.

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Lobe den Herren, Simplified Hymn Accompaniment, Stralsund Gesangbuch 1665 Last Updated: April 30, 2024

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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

    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    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
    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    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

Random Quote

The Sacrifice is celebrated with many solemn rites, none of which should be deemed useless or superfluous. On the contrary, all of them tend to display the majesty of this august sacrifice, and to excite the faithful, when beholding these saving mysteries, to contemplate the divine things which lie concealed in the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

— Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566)

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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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