Extremely Rare! • Pages from the “Directorium Chori” (Solesmes Abbey, 1864)
The entire edition was destroyed in a fire (circa 1866) except four rare copies.
27 November 2020 • ACCENTS
Certain Latin words are constantly mispronounced. For example, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is supposed to be pronounced “Cármina” but people frequently pronounce it as “Carmína”—wrong! Another example: Nova organi harmonia is supposed to be pronounced “órgani” but many people erroneously say “orgáni.” A somewhat tricky word is incipit. In Latin, it would be “íncipit” while […]
Feast of the Holy Family • Where did it come from?
The Consilium asked (15 March 1965): “Is it pleasing that the feast of the Holy Family be suppressed?” • Discussion of the First Sunday After Epiphany; the Feast of the Holy Name; the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord; the two (2) instances of different “Jubilate Deo” Offertories which repeat; “Abhinc Duos Annos” (23 October 1913); and many other items+
“Homily — 1st Sunday of Advent, Year B” • Father Valentine Young, OFM
All of us are now closer to our moment of death than we were last year or in any time in the past.
20 November 2020 • Epiphany Sequence?
A very interesting Missale from 1759AD has a Sequence for the Epiphany, but I don’t know where one could find the musical notation. The Seqence is called: “Prompto Gentes Animo Ferte Nunc Altissimo Honorem Et Gloriam.”
PDF Download • Several Useful Plainsong Books
“Variae Preces” (1892) — “Cantus Varii” (1902) — “Cantus Varii” (1928) — “Cantus Selecti” (1957)
18 November 2020 • FEEDBACK
From a priest in the Midwest: “That video by Andrea Leal which explains hymn meters and hymn text exchange is informative and a truly great explanation. Thank you for sending it to me. I hope all is well with you. God bless you as we soon enter into Advent.”
“Alma Redemptoris Mater” • Thirteen (13) Organ Accompaniments
When it comes to Gregorian harmonizations, this piece is surely the “pons asinorum.”
16 November 2020 • Exciting addition!
By kind permission of the Trustees of the London Oratory, we have added Mæstro Patrick Russill’s outstanding organ accompaniment for “Salve Regina” to the other versions currently available for free PDF download. Patrick Russill needs no introduction among church musicians the world over, and many consider his harmonization the finest of all.
Should Hymn Lyrics Be Inordinately Archaic?
The question of “Thee, Thy, Thou, Thine” • Speaks about whether referring to the “original version” of a hymn text makes sense • Treatment of the beautiful hymn melody called “Lafitau” and a harmonization by Claude Goudimel (d. 1572) with the melody placed into the Tenor voice+
“Homily — 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A” • Father Valentine Young, OFM
God has a special task and calling for each and every one of us.
Solemn Mass • Ruins of Saint Mary’s Cathedral (Nagasaki, 1949)
Due to government restrictions, California has been “locked down” since March, and all our Masses are celebrated outside.
Catholic Artists and “Self Hatred”
Sviatoslav Richter couldn’t function—much less perform—unless he carried around his pink, plastic lobster for comfort • Have you ever become discouraged about your abilities? Have you ever felt contempt for your early artistic creations? Typos from beautiful books are included in this reflection+
6 November 2020 • FEEDBACK
The director of music at EWTN wrote to us about the Brébeuf hymnal: “I do believe your hymnal has the best harmonizations available. We have used several of your harmonizations on EWTN. I have recommended to other hymnal editors that they get aligned with Corpus Christi Watershed to improve their harmonizations. Take care.”
Msgr. Schmitt backs up Rev. Fortescue
My colleague, Andrea Leal, recently posted something extraordinary: an English translation of a NOTITIAE document from 1970 which explains why the reformers did such violence to the ancient Proprium Missæ. The author of that document erroneously claims that Gregorian composers changed the wording for musical purposes, but the real reason Missal and Gradual don’t always […]