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We can hardly do better than to join in the same melodies sung by Catholic saints throughout history.
As I explained in my article posted earlier today, Nun Komm Der Heiden Heiland is actually a Catholic tune (in spite of what some have claimed). The volunteer choir I direct sang that beautiful ADVENT melody last Sunday, and I invite you to listen to the live recording. It will get better the more we […]
Some days, Fulton J. Sheen received as many as 30,000 letters.
Photograph from 1963, the year Monsignor Hellriegel published his 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝐻𝑦𝑚𝑛𝑎𝑙.
The Vice-President of the Church Music Association of America, Dr. Horst Buchholz (who also serves as Director of Sacred Music for the Archdiocese of Detroit) sent us an email yesterday regarding the harmonizations (PDF) I composed for the Gregorian Chant psalm tones. Dr. Buchholz says: “Those settings are absolutely exquisite, as I’m used to when […]
Is it fair to forever bind Dom Guéranger to what he wrote about “barbarous archaisms” in 1855?
A young lady named Agnes wrote to us: “Dear Mr. Ostrowski, do you have the PDF score for Ave Corpus Domini set to the ADVENT melody? Last year, we sang the hymn tune “Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland” quite a bit using your contrafactum technique. My choir appreciates the Latin hymns and practice videos, especially […]
Yesterday, I recorded a video demonstration of each Gregorian Chant tone.
With a brief digression on certain “nasty” traditionalists.
In the month of November, we remember in a special way the souls in purgatory. The BRÉBEUF HYMNAL often includes text alone versions for its hymns; why is that? The short answer is: flexibility. The “text only” version allows each choirmaster to employ a myriad of melodies. For example, I recently set the English translation […]
Are there sickening examples of hymn pairings? Oh, most certainly!
The special Vigil of Christmas “Alleluia” sung according to the official rhythm of the Catholic Church.
I’ve been attempting to record some Brébeuf hymns on the pipe organ, but I know very little about registration (“stops”). You can listen to this morning’s attempt, a recording of a tune called TRINITY COLLEGE. Do you know this tune? It’s quite nice. Feel free to email me vis-à-vis the registration I chose. To quickly […]
This video shows a signatory of the famous “Agatha Christie Indult” talking about Glenn Gould (specifically his Bach interpretations).
For decades, I was against choral warm-ups. I felt they should be derived from repertoire—killing two birds with one stone—but was often too lazy to prepare such items. Over the years, I have taken a 180° turn. Now I’m a huge believer in vocal “warm-ups.” Our volunteer choir has been enjoying this wonderful warm-up exercise […]
