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Catholic musicians must avoid being viewed as “esoteric freaks” who can’t agree on anything and spend their entire lives fighting about things nobody cares about.
My volunteer choir sang this arrangement during the offertory on Easter Sunday.
In his illustrious 1912 tome—The Mass: A Study Of The Roman Liturgy—Father Adrian Fortescue spoke of sequences, writing: “Strangest of all were the vernacular sequences in France and Germany, or those partly vernacular and partly Latin.” Our volunteer choir experimented with that on Holy Thursday, mixing Latin verses with an English refrain. For the record, […]
Dedicated to my brother, Father Mark Ostrowski.
Visit a random church on Sunday morning and ask parishioners basic questions…
With a digression on ‘drab’ modern architecture.
Working with volunteers can be discouraging, but always remember there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday, during PALM SUNDAY MASS, our 100% volunteer choir pulled out the SANCTUS from William Byrd’s “Mass for Five Voices.” This colossal performance was the result. (They literally didn’t know I was going to have them sing that […]
This version by Father Adrian Fortescue is fascinating!
A disturbing video sent to us from the Diocese of Superior (Wisconsin).
Msgr. Leo Manzetti foolishly wrote: “Church musicians, when experts in vocal art, agree that women’s voices are effeminate, sensuous, and operatic, hence un-churchly.”
The last one I uploaded was downloaded more than 1,700 times in a matter of hours. Therefore, folks seem interested in such a project.
I opted for the Church’s official rhythm.
Professor Bouyer later admitted (in his memoirs) that his team of liturgical reformers had been doomed from the start, since their goal was “recasting from top to bottom—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴!—an entire liturgy which had required twenty centuries to develop.”
“It would be a barbarous archaism to adopt this ancient custom in our time.” —Dom Guéranger
“I believe any dedicated choirmaster would love to team up with a pastor like this one!” —Jeff Ostrowski
