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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Hidden Gem: Ascendit Deus (Dalitz)

Keven Smith · June 25, 2025

HERE ARE FEW THINGS more frustrating than finding out about the perfect motet for a particular feast day just days before that feast day arrives. Most church choirs need weeks to learn a motet. Finding a great Ascension motet on the Fifth Sunday after Easter won’t help you this year.

That’s why I’m letting you know today about an Ascension motet my choir has enjoyed for years. It’s joyful, it’s simple, and it doesn’t require a large choir because it’s in three voices. I’m referring to Ascendit Deus by Christoph Dalitz.

Born in 1967, Mr. Dalitz is a German musician with a rare knack for writing choral music that’s satisfying to sing yet relatively easy to learn. My choir has also sung his Tollite Portas during Advent and his Viderunt Omnes at Midnight Mass. Ascendit Deus is no less enjoyable than these pieces.

Inside Ascendit Deus

Mr. Dalitz’s setting is in C major. Rather than use the Offertory chant from the Ascension Mass as his template, he provides an entirely original composition in early baroque style. He takes just 17 bars to present Psalm 46, verse 6: “Ascendit Deus in jubilatione, Dominus in voce tubae. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”

On the second page, Dalitz gives us verse 7 on a psalm tone. After a 12-bar polyphonic Alleluia interlude, we then encounter verse 8 on the same psalm tone. The motet concludes with a repeat of the Alleluia interlude.

Here’s a recording by the Schola Cantorum of St. John XXIII Parish in Pittsburgh, directed by John Rokosz:

What to Look and Listen for

What I love about this piece:

  • It’s joyful. When I announce that we’re about to rehearse Ascendit Deus, faces light up. It’s a good motet to slip in at the end of a Thursday evening rehearsal after people have begun to droop. Who wouldn’t have enough left in the tank to sing Ascendit Deus?
  • It presents few vocal demands. There’s a time and place for testing the limits of one’s choir. The Feast of the Ascension comes on the heels of Easter and falls just over a week before Pentecost. Unless you have many professional (or professional-caliber) singers in your ranks, it’s wise to program Ascension motets that won’t tire anyone out vocally during this busy time of year.
  • It lets the altos enjoy the spotlight. I have been blessed with some very accomplished altos over the years, even though our alto section has never been large. Ascendit Deus begins with the altos singing alone. It’s a good, though brief, opportunity for them to practice singing soloistically.
A few tips:
  • Shape the chant carefully. The psalm tone passages look easy because everyone sings together. But ask your singers to sing lightly and precisely, and to taper at the midpoint and end of each line. Remind them that psalm tone should have a direction to it. Rather than singing every note of equal length and weight, they should drive towards the accented syllables and let the others be lighter. Also, consider having the low voices sing the first psalm verse and the high voices sing the second—or vice versa—just to lighten the texture a bit.
  • Sing with energy. Encourage your choir to consider the text carefully. God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet! I do favor a more energetic tempo than what you’ll hear in the lovely recording I posted above, but whatever you do, let your choir’s sound ring out.
  • Bring down the sopranos and tenors/basses in the last three bars of both polyphonic sections. As their voices ring out, your singers may not realize who has the melody at the end of the polyphony: it’s the altos. Encourage your non-altos to decrescendo immediately after landing on the third bar from the end so that the far more interesting alto line will come through.

Mr. Dalitz generously makes his compositions available online for download. You’ll find Ascendit Deus on Choral Public Domain Library and on Mr. Dalitz’s own website. And since I’m telling you about this motet now, you’ll have nearly a year to prepare it! I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as my choir has.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: June 29, 2025

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About Keven Smith

Keven Smith, music director at St. Stephen the First Martyr, lives in Sacramento with his wife and five musical children.—(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Offertory” for this Sunday
    This coming Sunday, 12 October 2025, is the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). Its OFFERTORY ANTIPHON (PDF) is gorgeous, and comes from the book of Esther, as did the ENTRANCE CHANT last Sunday. Depending on a variety of factors, various hand-missals (all with Imprimatur) translate this passage differently. For instance, “príncipis” can be rendered: King; Prince; Lion; or Fierce lord. None is “more correct” than another. It depends on what each translator wants to emphasize and which source text is chosen. All these pieces of plainsong are conveniently stored at the blue-ribbon feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Why A “Fugue” Here?
    I believe I know why this plainsong harmonizer created a tiny fugue as the INTRODUCTION to his accompaniment. Take a look (PDF example) and tell me your thoughts about what he did on the feast of the Flight of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Egypt (17 February). And now I must go because “tempus fugit” as they say!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Reminder” — Month of October (2025)
    Those who don’t sign up for our free EMAIL NEWSLETTER miss important notifications. Last week, for example, I sent a message about this job opening for a music director paying $65,000 per year plus benefits (plus weddings & funerals). Notice the job description says: “our vision for sacred music is to move from singing at Mass to truly singing the Mass wherein … especially the propers, ordinaries, and dialogues are given their proper place.” Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”
    My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 12 October 2025) talks about an ‘irony’ or ‘paradox’ regarding the 1960s switch to a wider use (amplior locus) of vernacular in the liturgy.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

In the ’60s, I thought this emphasis on congregational singing was to encourage good Catholic hymns like “Immaculate Mary” and so forth … but after the Council, they threw them out, too!

— ‘Fr. Valentine Young, OFM (2007)’

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