Views from the Choir Loft

Dr. Alfred Calabrese

Dr. Alfred Calabrese is a conductor, educator, composer, scholar, and church musician. Having worked in academia for two decades, he felt called to enter full-time work in the Catholic Church, and since 2007 has directed the music at Saint Rita Catholic Church. He and his wife live in Dallas, TX. They have two grown children. Read more.

The Sacral Language of Liturgiam Authenticam as Applied to Choral Diction

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · November 11, 2015 ·

The Church has its own language and its own culture. Are you a native speaker?

It’s All About The Players

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · October 29, 2015 ·

The social construct of a choir should be like an inverted pyramid.

The Church Must Be Countercultural

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · October 15, 2015 ·

What music is appropriate for a wedding?

Family and Work: both are full time jobs

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · October 8, 2015 ·

My children are now grown, but I’m not about to reveal any family secrets!

Is this the “Proper” solution for you?

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · October 1, 2015 ·

I’ve decided to try an experiment that may work in other parishes.

Getting the most from your choir: Passion

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · September 24, 2015 ·

Passion … is a tremendous engine for achieving the very best results.

Getting the most from your choir: Preparation

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · September 14, 2015 ·

Only by knowing a piece inside and out can we teach it effectively and efficiently.

“Imagination, Preparation, Passion” • Getting the most from your choir

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · September 8, 2015 ·

“The conductor should be able to hear a perfect performance of the piece before it even begins.” —Dr. Alfred Calabrese

Dr. Alfred Calabrese

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · January 15, 2013 ·

Alfred holds a doctorate in choral conducting from Indiana University…

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski