OR MORE THAN a decade, we’ve been plagued by organizations and individuals who surreptitiously steal our rare book scans and post them on their own websites without permission. This hurts us because we’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity existing solely by the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment; we have no large donors; we run no advertisements; we have no savings. When people become aware of what we’re trying to do, many provide financial support by means of this link. But when our hard work is poached by others, that means fewer people discover our organization. As a result, we get less support.1
Rare Book By Rossini • Today, for the first time in history, we have scanned and uploaded a rare book by Father Carlo Rossini: “LAUDATE NOMEN DOMINI; Offertories and Communion Hymns For All Sundays and Principal Feasts For One Voice or Chorus in Unison With Organ.” You can download this book (below) completely free of charge—just by clicking, without logging in like most other websites! Then I provide three (3) reasons why this book is valuable:
* PDF Download • LAUDATE NOMEN DOMINI (130 Pages) —128MB
—Offertories & Communion Hymns for all Sundays & Principal Feasts for One Voice or Chorus in Unison with Organ.
—By Father Carlo Rossini (Organist & Choirmaster Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh, PA)
Reasons to love this book:
Reason #1 • This book provides settings of the OFFERTORY for all major feasts. When the ‘proper’ OFFERTORY is repeated somewhere else in his collection, Father Rossini adds (!) an additional OFFERTORY text. The COMMUNION setting isn’t the ‘proper’ COMMUNION because he arranges that (required) text at the bottom of the page as a psalm tone—and several of his harmonizations for those are superb. Instead, Father Rossini’s COMMUNION HYMN is a text he feels is appropriate for that part of Mass.
Reason #2 • Several of these settings won’t be attractive to the conscientious choirmaster. For example, Father Rossini’s setting of the OFFERTORY for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost (Precátus Est Móyses) is a bit “horse and buggy”—and does not match the text very well, in my humble opinion. On the other hand, 100% of these pieces would be excellent as brief organ interludes.
Reason #3 • Finally, the texts chosen by Father Rossini for COMMUNION are splendid. It’s almost as if they were taken directly from the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal (which was still 70 years away). Consider some of the excellent titles we find: Ubi cáritas et amor; Adóro te devóte; Ánima Christi; Ave verum corpus; Ave, vivens hóstia; Christi corpus, ave; O Jesu mi dilécte; Ecce panis angelórum; Desídero, mi Jesu; Ecce Agnus Dei; Ego sum panis vitae; Jesu, dulcis memória; Jesu, decus angélicum; Gustate et vidéte; O sacrum convívium; O quam amábilis; O mystérium ineffábile; O quam suávis est; Pie Pelicáne; and so forth. And all of them include a handy English translation!
1 We have been searching for a solution to this conundrum, and I believe we’re finally close to arriving at one.
