Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “Tantum Ergo” for 3 Voices (Kevin Allen) Paired with a Hymn for 2 Voices

Jeff Ostrowski · January 20, 2026

HOSE WHO CLICK on the following video will see that it starts with verses of the “Pange Lingua” by Saint Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274). The melody is difficult to speak about since it goes by so many different names: LIEBE DIE DU MICH ZUM BILDE; KOMM O KOMM DU GEIST DES LEBENS; BAMBERG; ICH BEGEHR NICHT MEHR; WURZEN; and so forth. In the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal, it is called “ST LEONARD.” Once upon a time, this hymn tune was quite popular. (Some of the finest hymn tunes go by multiple names; for instance, “JESU KREUZ LEIDEN UND PEIN” from Bach’s Saint John Passion.) In any event, starting at marker 0:25, you will see that an excerpt from Kevin Allen’s sublime polyphonic setting of the “Tantum Ergo” is used as a refrain:

Free rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #20323.

Sadness • Most readers won’t take the time to click on that #20323 link provided above, which means they will miss an opportunity to download that PDF score free of charge. They will also fail to take advantage of the magnificent rehearsal videos for each individual voice (which are conveniently posted there). I know this for a fact because we have internet tools permitting us to see “who downloads what” on our website. Sometimes, I will post something a very little importance … only to see it get downloaded thousands of times. It makes me sad that many readers will fail to click on that link.

More On That Tune • According to a footnote in the Brébeuf Hymnal, the melody mentioned above (“ST LEONARD”) was written by Johann Christoph Bach (d. 1703). Some hymnals erroneously attribute this tune, as his name resembles that of J.S. Bach’s fifth son—Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach—as well as his youngest son, Johann Christian Bach (d. 1782), who became a Catholic and was admired by Mozart. The Latin text is #346 in the Brébeuf Hymnal.

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

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).

Music List • (2nd Sunday of Lent)

Readers have expressed interest in seeing the ORDER OF MUSIC I created for this coming Sunday, which is the 2nd Sunday of Lent (1 March 2026). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. This feast has magnificent propers. Its somber INTROIT is particularly striking—using a haunting tonality—but the COMMUNION with its fauxbourdon verses is also quite remarkable. I encourage all the readers to visit the feasts website, where the Propria Missae may be downloaded completely free of charge.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Like! Like! Like!

You won’t believe who recently gave us a “like” on the Corpus Christi Watershed FACEBOOK PAGE. Click here (PDF) to see who it was. We were not only sincerely honored, we were utterly flabbergasted. This was truly a resounding endorsement and unmistakable stamp of approval.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Which Mass?

In 1905, when the Vatican Commission on Gregorian Chant began publishing the EDITIO VATICANA—still the Church’s official edition— they assigned different Masses to different types of feasts. However, they were careful to add a note (which began with the words “Qualislibet cantus hujus Ordinarii…”) making clear “chants from one Mass may be used together with those from others.” Sadly, I sometimes worked for TLM priests who weren’t fluent in Latin. As a result, they stubbornly insisted Mass settings were ‘assigned’ to different feasts and seasons (which is false). To understand the great variety, one should examine the 1904 KYRIALE of Dr. Peter Wagner. One should also look through Dom Mocquereau’s Liber Usualis (1904), in which the Masses are all mixed up. For instance, Gloria II in his book ended up being moved to the ‘ad libitum’ appendix in the EDITIO VATICANA.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Extreme Unction

Those who search Google for “CCCC MS 079” will discover high resolution images of a medieval Pontificale (“Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 079”). One of the pages contains this absolutely gorgeous depiction of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

PDF Chart • “Plainsong Rhythm”

I will go to my grave without understanding the lack of curiosity so many people have about the rhythmic modifications made by Dom André Mocquereau. For example, how can someone examine this single sheet comparison chart and at a minimum not be curious about the differences? Dom Mocquereau basically creates a LONG-SHORT LONG-SHORT rhythmic pattern—in spite of enormous and overwhelming manuscript evidence to the contrary. That’s why some scholars referred to his method as “Neo-Mensuralist” or “Neo-Mensuralism.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF • “O Come All Ye Faithful” (Simplified)

I admire the harmonization of “Adeste Fideles” by David Willcocks (d. 2015), who served as director of the Royal College of Music (London, England). In 2025, I was challenged to create a simplified arrangement for organists incapable of playing the authentic version at tempo. The result was this simplified keyboard arrangement (PDF download) based on the David Willcocks version of “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Feel free to play through it and let me know what you think.

—Jeff Ostrowski