Leroy from New York
25 March 2026
This message is for Jeff Ostrowski. My introduction to Gregorian Chant came during grade school, where it was taught by nuns and sisters who wore flowing habits. They were strict when they needed to be, and we were better for it. Soon afterwards, the ‘craziness’ began. Instead of the assigned antiphons, someone with a guitar stood at the front of church singing: “Let us break bread together on our knees. Let us drink wine together on our knees.” My family took shelter under the protection of a religious order, which allowed us to preserve a considerable portion of the Gregorian Chant tradition.
Jeff, your articles are interesting reads, but honestly, they drive me up the wall. Stop tinkering with melodies like Alma Redemptóris Mater and Salve Regína—they don’t need your help. Gregorian Chant has been sung a certain way for good reason. It’s meant to bring people together, not serve as a platform for your personal theories. Congratulations on taking everything we loved as kids and making it unrecognizable. [For anonymity’s sake, we usually redact names.]
My response To Leroy
15 April 2026
Since You Were Young • Leroy, your letter would seem to be in response to this article about the Alma Redemptóris Mater which includes a video and organ accompaniment. Or perhaps you’re responding to my piece about the MARIAN ANTIPHONS. If I may be permitted to blow my own horn, that second article does contain vital information vis-à-vis plainsong rhythm. Let me begin by saying it is not my intention to make plainsong “unrecognizable” (your word). I know there are people who love to ‘rock the boat’ and cause disturbance—but I’m not one of them. When you’ve been singing a certain way your whole life, of course that’s going to feel like the “correct” way … and this is only natural.
My Hesitation • Since the late 1990s, I had been aware of the distortions Dom André Mocquereau (d. 1930) illicitly made to the official rhythm, but I was comfortable with them because—like you—I had grown up singing them. Indeed, I’d sung certain pieces for so many years, the absurdities were almost ‘ingrained’ inside my brain; I was no longer cognizant of them! I also knew Dr. Ellis had discovered a letter revealing that the rhythmic distortions (a.k.a. “added value”) may have been imposed for financial gain. Furthermore, as someone who had spent decades looking at medieval manuscripts, I knew the rhythmic distortions had no musicological justification—to say nothing of the pervasive and omnipresent ictus marks. But I just didn’t want to rock the boat.
Camel’s Back • The “straw that broke the camel’s back” had to do with the VESPERALE. For many years, I was in charge of leading VESPERS each Sunday afternoon at one of the largest FSSP parishes in the world. One day, it just hit me that trying to have a congregation observe these ‘nuances’ (which have no foundation according to the Gregorian manuscript tradition) was an exercise in absurdity:
England Vs. Belgium • As Americans, we’re heavily influenced by Dom Mocquereau’s approach to plainsong, which elongates the final syllable of each word—similar to French speech patterns. That’s because Dom Mocquereau’s monastery moved to Quarr Abbey, just off the south coast of England (when exiled by the French government). Abbat Joseph Pothier, however, took his monastery to Belgium (when they were exiled by the French government). I was blessed to study with the priest in charge of overseeing Dom Eugène Cardine—and many other scholars—who worked at the Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra in Rome. He constantly stressed that we must be aware of the ways different cultures sing owing to their native language. The French, even when speaking Latin, accent the final syllable. Anyone who doubts this need only examine the thousands of organ accompaniments created by proponents of Dom Mocquereau’s system. I’m speaking of men such as Julius Bas, Dom Jean-Hébert Desroquettes, Achille Pierre Bragers, Abbé Ferdinand Portier, Leo P. Manzetti, Henri Potiron, and so forth. An accompaniment like the following will sound absurd to someone unfamiliar with the French language:
* PDF Download • FRENCH STYLE ACCOMPANIMENT
—This harmonization is by Dr. Eugène Lapierre (published in 1954).
His Specific Question • My desire, Leroy, is to answer your question in a rigorously straightforward way. The EDITIO VATICANA—which is still the Church’s official edition—doesn’t micromanage the elongation of each tonic accent. As you can see by examining the notation, it leaves the precise mora vocis up to each choir director:
Germanic Tradition • Someone who grew up speaking German would rather cut off his right arm than accent the final syllable of a Latin word. Germans love to honor the tonic accent. German hymnals teem with evidence of this, as any reader will quickly discover:
But some American editions likewise honor the tonic accent. Consider the book by Father John G. Hacker: THE CATHOLIC HYMNAL, which bears a 25 March 1920 IMPRIMATUR from Most Rev’d William Turner, founder Catholic Charities and bishop of Buffalo, New York:
Conclusion • In conclusion, Leroy, this has nothing to do with me “taking everything you loved as a child and making it unrecognizable.” Rather, it has everything to do with understanding the official edition, meticulously created by the Vatican Commission on Gregorian Chant (a group assembled by Pope Saint Pius X). Surely all who cherish Gregorian Chant will care about these issues! Over the years I’ve heard from many who, although they claim to be plainchant professors at major universities, see no difference between the following two interpretations:
Words fail me when I try to describe my bewilderment. How can one spend decades teaching plainsong at the university level yet never realize those two interpretations conflict?
Addendum • A dissenting voice might exclaim: “Who cares about the German tradition?” In reply, I can only insist that no serious church musician can afford to ignore Germanic traditions. For example, my volunteer choir loves to sing INNSBRUCK. Indeed, on Holy Thursday our children’s choir joined the “big choir” (i.e. our volunteer parish choir) and this was the result:
What a tremendous loss—a truly incalculable loss—it would be to ‘ignore’ or ‘disregard’ the Roman Catholic Germanic tradition. Just don’t be surprised when they sing Regína Coeli like this!
