Views from the Choir Loft

Gwyneth Holston

Gwyneth Holston is a sacred artist who works to provide and promote good quality Catholic art. Her website is gwynethholston.com. Read more.

Archbishop Sample’s Letter On Sacred Music (8 of 8)

Gwyneth Holston · June 23, 2014 ·

Eagerly awaiting a Pastoral Letter on Sacred Art in Divine Worship.

Artist Lecture Series at Thomas More College

Gwyneth Holston · May 30, 2014 ·

If you are in New England July 25 – August 1, you don’t want to miss this!

Pathetic Beauty

Gwyneth Holston · May 5, 2014 ·

Can A Pure Intention Create Objective Beauty?

Mass for Artists on May 4th in NYC

Gwyneth Holston · April 14, 2014 ·

It will be in the extraordinary form with a modern setting by Arvo Part

Summer Programs at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts

Gwyneth Holston · April 8, 2014 ·

Great opportunities for formation in drawing, painting, writing, reading, and leading

“Crucifixion” by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon

Gwyneth Holston · April 7, 2014 ·

A striking image that should be more well-known.

What is Catholic Art?

Gwyneth Holston · March 31, 2014 ·

Help me define the indefinable.

Jubilee Museum Sacred Art Biennial 2014

Gwyneth Holston · March 24, 2014 ·

Call for entries for visual artists!

Finally! A Manly Saint Joseph

Gwyneth Holston · March 17, 2014 ·

I’m not sure why, but there are an unusually high number of saccharine depictions St. Joseph. This is not one of them.

Painting of St. Catherine of Siena Part II

Gwyneth Holston · March 11, 2014 ·

See the “reveal” of the finished painting.

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