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Views from the Choir Loft

In Memoriam • Dr. William Mahrt

Fr. David Friel · January 2, 2025

T THE VERY START of this Jubilee year, we mourn the passing of Dr. William Mahrt, who died late in the afternoon of January 1, 2025. One of the world’s foremost authorities on Gregorian chant, Dr. Mahrt was a tremendous teacher whose depth of scholarship was matched by his greatness of soul. Dr. Mahrt’s writings in musicology, especially within the realm of Gregorian chant, are truly magisterial. Readers of the CMAA’s Sacred Music journal will remember Bill’s insightful and pithy editorials in each issue, almost always bearing a one- or two-word title. His reviews of repertoire in the same journal show forth his unparalleled mastery of chant and polyphony. The 2012 reworking of a number of earlier articles into the book The Musical Shape of the Liturgy was a great gift for a new generation of men and women who are dedicated, like Bill, to promoting the Church’s treasury of sacred music at the parish level.

This is one of the most remarkable things about Bill’s professional life: although he was ever the scholar, he was never removed from the demands of actual liturgical praxis. He led a successful career as a professor at Stanford University (his alma mater), and he also led the St. Ann Choir week-by-week in rehearsal and at Sunday Mass in Palo Alto continuously for more than fifty years. Bill was no ivory tower academic, but a brilliant and faithful man who had tasted heaven in the chants of the Church and who ardently shared his knowledge and love for sacred music with his fellow parishioners and musicians.

Numerous times, I heard Dr. Mahrt give lectures and presentations on sacred music, always learning something from what he taught. Occasionally, while participating together in various conferences, I had the chance to share a meal with him, which always felt like sitting at the feet of a (very humble) master. On a few occasions, I also had the imposing task of presenting papers on musical topics in his presence, during the course of which I cited one or more of his works. I will never forget his kindness and encouragement to me on those occasions.

Dr. Mahrt’s death is a real loss for his family and for so many others who came to love him for his gentleness and generosity, as well as his erudition and accomplishments.

AINT PAUL describes the way in which the Holy Spirit manifests Himself in human souls: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). According to this standard, Bill was a man very much filled with the Holy Spirit.

We pray that Dr. Mahrt may soon sing alongside the angels and saints as part of the heavenly choir. Requiescat in pace!

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Church Music Association of America CMAA, New Liturgical Movement Blog, William Mahrt Gregorian Chant Last Updated: January 2, 2025

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “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
    “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

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

Giovanni Doni is known for having changed the name of note “Ut,” renaming it “Do.” He convinced his contemporaries to make the change by arguing that 1) “Do” is easier to pronounce than “Ut,” and 2) “Do” is an abbreviation for “Dominus,” the Latin word for the Lord, Who is the tonic and root of the world. There is much academic speculation that Giovanni Doni also wanted to imprint himself into musical canon in perpetuity because “Do” is also ulteriorly an abbreviation for his family name.

— Giovanni Battista Doni died in 1647AD

Recent Posts

  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
  • “Participation” • Recovering its Receptive Dimension

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