Views from the Choir Loft

PDF • “Organ Interludes” (Manuals Only) — 104 Pages

Andrea Leal · August 22, 2024

This article first appeared on our
blog two years ago. We feel it’s
worth running again, although
we usually eschew “re-posts”
out of respect for our readers.

XCITING NEWS! Mr. Stephen Perez is offering a terrific collection of modal organ interludes as a free PDF download. Many of these interludes are based on the most beloved Gregorian chant melodies: Pange Lingua, Ave Maris Stella, Lauda Sion, Puer Natus, Creator Alme Siderum, Ave Maria, Vidi Aquam, Vexilla Regis, Veni Creator Spiritus, Assumpta Est Maria, and so forth. The selections were chosen with great care, including marvelous composers such as Flor Peeters, Dom Gregory Murray, Dom Alphege Shebbeare, John Lee, Oreste Ravanello, J.S. Bach, and many others. Best of all, these interludes are within reach of the ‘average’ organist, since they are for manuals only.

* PDF • Organ Interludes (Manuals Only) • 104 Pages
—Based on Gregorian Melodies • Edited by Mr Stephen Perez.
* Amazon Softcover (Eligible for Prime) • $9.99

Full title of the publication:

M Simple Organ Interludes (Manuals Only)
M In honor of Father Énemond Massé (d. 1646)
M Including modal compositions based on plainchant melodies.
M For use in the Catholic Church.

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Dom Gregory Murray’s pieces are particularly beautiful. My parish is currently without an organist, since the person who had been serving as our organist recently entered the seminary. I asked my colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, to record a few of the Murray interludes, so readers can get an idea what they sound like. Mr. Ostrowski chose to record INTERLUDE 37—based on Sanctus VIII—as well as INTERLUDE 59.

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

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).

“Entrance Chant” • Immaculate Conception

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the Immaculate Conception (9 December 2024). It’s in the third mode—which some consider the most beautiful of all—and mimics the authentic version in a laudable way. Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, I attempted to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

How Sharp Are Your Eyes?

Just around the corner is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The GREGORIAN MISSAL (Solesmes Abbey, 1990) is an utterly gorgeous book—there’s no question about that. But several typos did creep in. Can you spot the major typo for the ENTRANCE CHANT on the feast of the Immaculate Conception? How sharp are your eyes? If you succeed, send me an email letting me know.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • (Christ the King Sunday)

This coming Sunday—24 November 2024—is Christ the King Sunday (a.k.a. “Final Sunday in Ordinary Time”). Some have expressed interest in perusing my “ORDER OF MUSIC.” If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. You’ll notice we’re learning Moreau’s “Congregational Polyphonic Enhancement” for the OUR FATHER. And the the Mode 3 ENTRANCE CHANT is utterly sublime.

—Jeff Ostrowski

The Breviary in the Life of the Laity

Recently I have been enjoying looking through the inaugural (1927) edition of a 20th-century liturgical magazine called Orate Fratres. The July 1927 issue included an excellent article by a Chicago laywoman named Ellen Gates Starr entitled “The Delights of the Breviary: From the Point of View of a Lay Woman.” As we in the 21st century have recently undergone a (blessed!) re-translation of the missal into English, and as we await with joyful hope (please God, before Jesus comes back!) a similar re-translation of the breviary, the opening of her article reminded me of that old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Nearly a hundred years ago, she penned words that could just as easily have been written today: “It is indeed a privilege to be allowed any participation, however slight, in the liturgical movement in the Church – the movement to bring back the classics of devotion, the Missal and the Breviary, into general use by the laity. The wonder is that they should ever have fallen into disuse. Nothing can take the place of these great universal prayers of the Church, the prayers of the Mass and the divine Office. One has only to know them to find them indispensable. And alas, how few of the laity know them!” I know that I have been tremendously nourished by regular praying of the breviary as of late, and my wish is that you and I, dear reader, may continue to nourish our interior lives with the official prayer of the Church, which present to us (in the Mass) and extend (in the Office) the fullness of Christ’s greatest gift to us – the gift of Himself – in the Most Holy Eucharist.

—Daniel Tucker

Principles vs Preferences

I ran into this idea recently: principles vs. preferences in planning out a curriculum or music lineup. In this idea, it is imperative to not misconstrue personal preferences into principles—that the music (or subject matter) is great because: “I have good taste, and I like it.” De gustibus… Education, study and docility to the Magisterium of the Church on matters of liturgical music must be present in those who make the music at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Hours. Who knows? Maybe you might start to prefer the music that is fitting according to the principles Catholic Sacred Music?

—William J. Fritz

Liquescent Notes in the Official Edition

The official edition—the EDITIO VATICANA itself—is somewhat inconsistent when it comes to liquescent notes. If you wish to see a perfect “apples-to-apples” comparison, click here. Such “inconsistency” was not owing to ignorance on the part of Abbat Pothier: the manuscripts themselves are inconsistent when it comes to liquescent notes.

—Jeff Ostrowski