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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • Pristine Scan: Father Mathias’ 1905 Kyriale Organ Accompaniment (186 pages)

Jeff Ostrowski · December 3, 2024

28879-M-KYRIALE-1932-Composer-Franz-Xaver-MATHIAS-Organist-Strasbourg-Cathedral-1898–1908
28879-B-KYRIALE-1932-Composer-Franz-Xaver-MATHIAS-Organist-Strasbourg-Cathedral-1898–1908
28879-N-KYRIALE-1932-Composer-Franz-Xaver-MATHIAS-Organist-Strasbourg-Cathedral-1898–1908
28879-F-KYRIALE-1932-Composer-Franz-Xaver-MATHIAS-Organist-Strasbourg-Cathedral-1898–1908

ET’S SUPPOSE that while teaching your child how to drive you explain green lights and red lights but say nothing about yellow lights. Such an omission does not help your child. At the same time, it’s possible to emphasize exceptions too much. In retrospect, over the last twenty years I’ve been guilty of that when explaining how to read the EDITIO VATICANA. (In my own defense, I focused on discrepancies because I find them fascinating.) In the future, I will try to minimize—though not completely ignore—slight differences between those who sing from the Church’s official edition of CARMEN GREGORIANUM following the official rhythm: Father Mathias, Max Springer, Flor Peeters, Amédée Gastoué, Marcel Dupré, and so forth.

Before We Go Further • Before this article goes any further, I have exciting news. We obtained and scanned a pristine copy of the ORGAN ACCOMPANIMENT TO THE KYRIALE by Father Franz Xaver Mathias, an Alsatian priest who served as organist for Strasburg Cathedral, where he founded (in 1913) the “Saint Leo Institute for Church Music.” I believe this 1931 edition is identical to the 1905 version except for the “Missa Pro Defunctis” (which, if memory serves, had not been published in 1905).

*  PDF Download • Mathias “ORDINARIUM MISSAE” (186 pages)
—342MB (quite large) • Organum comitans ad Kyriale seu Ordinarium missae.

Significance Of This Book • Copies we scanned in the past were not pristine: viz. they sometimes contained vandalism by those who follow the rhythmic theories of Dom André Mocquereau. The best way I can explain “Mocquereau vandalism” is by an example. Are your eyes sharp enough to spot the rhythmic modifications Dom Mocquereau makes to the official edition?

Missing The Mark • Dom Mocquereau’s modifications were illicit, since they contradicted the rhythm intended by Pope Pius X as was stated explicitly by the PREFECT for the Vatican’s Congregation of Rites.1 However, his editions became quite popular. These modifications—which Mocquereau referred to as “value-added”—were based upon his (highly conjectural) interpretations of 2-3 manuscripts for which he had a special predilection. But Dom Mocquereau’s failure was not his love for 2-3 particular MSS. His failure was ignoring the testimonies of hundreds of other MSS which are also extremely ancient. He had an obligation to take into consideratoin the entire manuscript tradition, not just 2-3 manuscripts for which he felt a special love.

They’re In Agreement • If you learned Gregorian Chant from someone who speaks English or French, you probably learned the rhythm according to Dom Mocquereau’s modifications. However, if you studied with someone from Germany or Belgium, you probably learned according to the official rhythm. Those who adhere to the official rhythm include: Flor Peeters; Father Xavier Mathias; Professor Max Springer (student of Antonín Dvořák); Most Rev’d H. Laurent Janssens; Marcel Dupré; Monsignor Franz Nekes (a.k.a. “The German Palestrina”); Alfons Desmet; Aloysius Desmet; Oscar De Puydt; Father Karl Weinmann; the Wiltberger brothers; Professor Amédée Gastoué; Abbat Urbanus Bomm; Joseph Gogniat; Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel; Monsignor Jules Vyverman; Marinus de Jong; Gustaaf Nees; Henri Durieux; Edgard de Laet; Monsignor Johannes Overath; Monsignor Francis P. Schmitt; Dr. Karl Gustav Fellerer; Charles-Marie Widor; and Dom Lucien David. Broadly speaking, those who follow the official rhythm are in agreement. If you look hard enough, you can find discrepancies (“freedom”) but I promised not to focus on those.

Consider how the word múndi is treated below:

That’s probably not the way many of you learned it!

Photographs • Some photographs of the edition by Dr. Mathias:

28879-k-KYRIALE-1932-Composer-Franz-Xaver-MATHIAS-Organist-Strasbourg-Cathedral-1898–1908
28879-G-KYRIALE-1932-Composer-Franz-Xaver-MATHIAS-Organist-Strasbourg-Cathedral-1898–1908
28879-E-KYRIALE-1932-Composer-Franz-Xaver-MATHIAS-Organist-Strasbourg-Cathedral-1898–1908
28879-D-KYRIALE-1932-Composer-Franz-Xaver-MATHIAS-Organist-Strasbourg-Cathedral-1898–1908

Reminder • For the record, the organ accompaniments by Dr. Mathias are—in my humble opinion—dreadful from the harmonic point of view. But they’re important because they give another example of the authentic rhythm.

1 Sebastiano Cardinal Martinelli was appointed PREFECT of the Sacred Congregation of Rites on 8 February 1909 by Pope Saint Pius X. His famous letter of 18 February 1910 vis-à-vis Gregorian rhythm is too powerful, too eloquent, and too explicit to “summarize.” Anyone interested in Gregorian rhythm also has an obligation to study carefully the 16 January 1906 missive written by the president of the Vatican Commission on Gregorian Chant, of which I have found two different translations into English.

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Andre Mocquereau Theory of Rhythm, Carmen Gregorianum, Editio Vaticana, Gregorian Rhythm Wars, MMV melismatic mora vocis, Mora Vocis, Ordinarium Missae, Sebastian Cardinal Martinelli Last Updated: December 3, 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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President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —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

“In condemning us, you condemn all your own ancestors—all the ancient priests, bishops and kings—all that was once the glory of England, the island of saints and the most devoted child of the See of Peter. For what have we taught, however you may qualify it with the odious name of treason, that they did not uniformly teach?”

— Father Edmund Campion (to the Anglicans about to murder him)

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