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Corpus Christi Watershed

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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “Gloria III” Organ Accompaniment

Jeff Ostrowski · March 29, 2025

T IS SURELY one of music history’s great ironies. Dom André Mocquereau began his career utterly opposed to the mensuralist interpretation of Gregorian Chant, which was commonly used for singing from “corrupt” editions like the EDITIO MEDICAEA. But in the end, Dom Mocquereau ended up promoting a rhythmic interpretation sometimes called Neo-Mensuralism because it lengthens almost every other note. That interpretation had been explicitly condemned by Pope Pius X, and that legislation was reiterated by the Vatican for the next fifty years.1 But why did Dom Mocquereau do such a thing, after Pope Pius X fought so bravely for authentic sacred music? We can’t know for certain, but there are 3 basic theories: Three M’s. The first is Misunderstanding: Dom Mocquereau simply misinterpreted the ancient manuscripts. The second is Malice: Dom Mocquereau wanted to get even with Dom Pothier because he’d ardently wanted his 1903 edition adopted, but the pope chose Pothier’s edition instead. The third is Money: viz. the “financial imperatives” discovered in secret correspondence by Dr. Katharine Ellis of Cambridge University.

Jeff’s Attempt • So how does the “official rhythm” actually sound? Below, I demonstrate with one of the greatest versions of the Glória in excélsis—viz. GLORIA III.

*  PDF Download • ORGAN ACCOMPANIMENT
*  PDF Download • VOCALIST SCORE

Here’s the direct URL link.

We printed these congregational inserts and placed them inside the covers of the Saint Isaac Jogues Illuminated Missal, Gradual, and Lectionary.

Nothing Deficient • I have argued that we should sing the official melodies the way they were intended to be sung by the Vatican Commission on Gregorian Chant, which was responsible for creating the official edition. As far as I can tell, nobody has been able to demonstrate anything “deficient” or “lacking” or “undesirable” or “inadequate” about the official rhythm. A list of famous musicians who used the official rhythm would include: Flor Peeters; Father Xavier Mathias (who in 1913 founded the Saint Leo Institute for Sacred Music at Strasburg Cathedral); Professor Max Springer (student of Antonín Dvořák); Most Rev’d H. Laurent Janssens; Marcel Dupré; Monsignor Franz Nekes (called “The German Palestrina”); Alfons Desmet; Aloysius Desmet; Oscar De Puydt; Father Karl Weinmann; the Wiltberger brothers; Professor Amédée Gastoué; Abbat Urbanus Bomm; Charles-Marie Widor; 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; and Dom Lucien David.

Seeking Feedback • I’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter. Surely I’m not the only one interested in the rhythm of plainsong! Feel free to tell me where I’ve gone astray—but if you do that please make sure to include specific examples.

1 I must admit that I’ve never understood why some priests and musicians—who are responsible for Mass according to the liturgical books of 1962—are so very careful about every last rubric pertaining to the ceremonies but totally ignore the musical legislation.

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Abbat Joseph Pothier, Andre Mocquereau Theory of Rhythm, Dom Lucien David Saint Wandrille Abbey, Gregorian Organ Accompaniments, Gregorian Rhythm Wars, Gregorian Semiology, Sémiologie grégorienne Last Updated: May 5, 2025

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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

    “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
    “Truly Great Processional” • (Pipe Organ)
    I stumbled upon this live recording of a PROCESSIONAL I played on the pipe organ in 2002. It’s an excerpt from a much longer composition by Sebastian Bach. In those days, there weren’t sophisticated recording devices allowing one “fix” wrong notes. (Perhaps they existed, but we didn’t have machines like that.) So it was necessary to play the entire piece from beginning to end. If you’re a church organist, feel free to download the PDF score. I suppose it’s only a matter of time until some joker uses “artificial intelligence” to play music at church … but there’s something so satisfying about playing an organ in real life.
    —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

“It is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Recent Posts

  • 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
  • “Breathtaking Photographs” • First Mass of Father Michael Caughey, FSSP (Muskegon, MI)

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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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