Views from the Choir Loft

Articles

Jeff Ostrowski · October 10, 2015

The Week In Review

Seven random thoughts…

Veronica Brandt · October 10, 2015

New CD by the Sistine Chapel Choir

Watch for more about the first ever commercial recording from the Sistine Chapel.

Corpus Christi Watershed · October 10, 2015

VIDEO • Fr. Kevin Vogel On Gregorian Chant

This video will interest lovers of sacred music.

Jeff Ostrowski · October 10, 2015

Musical Resources • 20th Sunday after Pentecost (Extraordinary Form)

“May these mysteries, we beseech thee, O Lord, bring us from heaven a healing medicine…”

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · October 8, 2015

Family and Work: both are full time jobs

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

Jeff Ostrowski · October 7, 2015

Sloppy 1953 Schwann

The “white notes” (as Dr. Joseph Lennards called them) are quite sloppy, which really took me by surprise.

Dr. Lucas Tappan · October 6, 2015

The Power of Good Music

Please, please don’t ever underestimate the power of good music to touch hearts in either the work of evangelization or catechesis.

Aurelio Porfiri · October 5, 2015

Something Unexpected

Music is not and cannot be neutral.

Jeff Ostrowski · October 3, 2015

Loading Choir Binders For Sunday (4 October)

The life of a choirmaster is a life of sacrifice…

Jeff Ostrowski · October 3, 2015

Worst Song Ever?

What Church musicians can learn from “Friday” by Rebecca Black.

Richard J. Clark · October 2, 2015

Believe. Connect. Disappear.

The older I get, I prepare more not to receive accolades, but to become invisible.

Jeff Ostrowski · October 1, 2015

Musical Resources • 19th Sunday after Pentecost (Extraordinary Form)

“Almighty and merciful God, in thy goodness put far from us all that may work us harm…”

Andrew Leung · October 1, 2015

Mass in the Ancient Form at a Basilica

The Traditional Latin Mass is being offered regularly at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga.

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · October 1, 2015

Is this the “Proper” solution for you?

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

Corpus Christi Watershed · September 29, 2015

Fr. David Friel At The Papal Masses (Part 2)

We are so proud of our own Fr. David Friel.

Music List • (4th Sunday of Lent)

Readers have expressed interest in seeing the ORDER OF MUSIC I created for this coming Sunday, which is the 4th Sunday of Lent (15 March 2026). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. This feast has sublime propers. It is most often referred to as “Lætare Sunday” owing to its INTROIT. I encourage all the readers to visit the feasts website, where the Propria Missae may be downloaded completely free of charge.

—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF Download • Communion (4th Snd. Lent)

The COMMUNION ANTIPHON for this coming Sunday, which is the Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year A), is particularly beautiful. There’s something irresistible about this tone; it’s neither happy nor sad. As always, I encourage readers to visit the flourishing feasts website, where the complete Propria Missae may be downloaded free of charge.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Good Friday Flowers

Good Friday has a series of prayers for various parties: the pope, catechumens, pagans, heretics, schismatics, and so forth. In the old liturgical books, there was no official ‘name’ for these prayers. (This wasn’t unusual as ‘headers’ and ‘titles’ for each section is a rather modern idea.) The Missal simply instructed the priest to go to the Epistle side and begin. In the SHERBORNE MISSAL, each prayer begins with a different—utterly spectacular—flower. This PDF file shows the first few prayers. Has anyone counted the ‘initial’ drop-cap flowers in the SHERBORNE MISSAL? Surely there are more than 1,000.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Stumped by “Episcopalian Hymnal” (1910)

Some consider Songs of Syon (1910) the greatest Episcopalian hymnal ever printed. As a Roman Catholic, I have no right to weigh in one way or the other. However, this particular page has me stumped. I just know I’ve heard that tune somewhere! If you can help, please email me. I’m talking about the text which begins: “This is the day the Lord hath made; In unbeclouded light array’d.” The book is by George Ratcliffe Woodward, and its complete title is: Songs of Syon: A Collection of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. Back in 2016, Corpus Christi Watershed scanned and uploaded this insanely rare book. For years our website was the sole place one could download it as a PDF file.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Dies Irae” • A Monstrous Translation

It isn’t easy to determine what Alice King MacGilton hoped to accomplish with her very popular book—A Study of Latin Hymns (1918)—which continued to be reprinted in new editions for at least 34 years. This PDF file shows her attempt to translate the DIES IRAE “in the fewest words possible.” There’s a place for dynamic equivalency, but this is repugnant. In particular, look what she does to “Quærens me sedísti lassus.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF Download • “Holy, Holy, Holy”

For vigil Masses on Saturday (a.k.a. “anticipated” Masses) we use this simpler setting of the “Holy, Holy, Holy” by Monsignor Jules Vyverman (d. 1989), a Belgian priest, organist, composer, and music educator who ultimately succeeded another ‘Jules’ (CANON JULES VAN NUFFEL) as director of the Lemmensinstituut in Belgium. Although I could be wrong, my understanding is that the LEMMENSINSTITUUT eventually merged with “Catholic University of Leuven” (originally founded in 1425). That’s the university Fulton J. Sheen attended.

—Jeff Ostrowski

After ordering the bishops to appoint in each diocese “special commission of persons who are really competent in the matter, to whom they will entrust the duty of watching over the music performed in the churches in whatever way may seem most advisable,” Pope Pius X continues—“this commission will insist on the music being not only good in itself, but also proportionate to the capacity of the singers, so that it may be always well executed.”

— Dom Alphege Shebbeare (Downside Review)