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Jeff Ostrowski · September 12, 2024

Music List • (24th Sund. Ordinary Time)

Readers have expressed interest in looking over the “music list” I have prepared for this coming Sunday.

Jeff Ostrowski · September 11, 2024

Musical Setting • “Confíteor Déo Omnipoténti”

The participants went nuts over this musical setting. They just couldn’t get enough of it!

Corpus Christi Watershed · September 11, 2024

Desperate Appeal • (11-Sep-2024)

On 11 September 2024, the president of CCWatershed released…

Jeff Ostrowski · September 10, 2024

PDF Download • “Entrance Chant” for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Plainchant in English)

Today I discuss a myth about accompanying plainsong on the pipe organ.

Jeff Ostrowski · September 6, 2024

“Spanish Entrance Hymn” • (You Might Enjoy This)

Javier R. wrote to us: “One thing that caught my eye—and which I’ve been wrestling with—is how to fit Hymns with Antiphons, especially during the entrance procession.”

Jeff Ostrowski · August 31, 2024

Musical Lineup • (22nd Sund. Ordinary Time)

Jeff’s musical lineup for Sunday, 1 September 2024.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 30, 2024

PDF • “Lamb of God” Harmonization

Harmonized—and carefully notated—in Spanish, English, and Latin.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 30, 2024

Leaked Document! • Comparison Chart—New Responsorial Psalms (“Abbey Psalms & Canticles”)

The NAB tried to use “overly casual” language—and the results are often an abomination.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 29, 2024

“3-Voice Arrangement” (SAB) • Psalm 26

Fabulous rehearsal videos have been created for you.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 28, 2024

PDF Download • Seasonal (“Ad Libitum”) Gospel Acclamations for Sundays and Weekdays

The various options given here by the official 1970 Missal can be used during the week (or on any Sunday).

Jeff Ostrowski · August 27, 2024

When Teaching a Polyphony for the First Time, Use This Three-Voice Piece

The Solfège has already been added, and we made magnificent rehearsal videos for you!

Jeff Ostrowski · August 22, 2024

The Very Least We Can Do!

Today I must ask the infamous question… (ducks)

Jeff Ostrowski · August 20, 2024

“The Very Best 42 Seconds of Gregorian Chant”

Fulton J. Sheen, Saint John Mary Vianney, and more!

Jeff Ostrowski · August 19, 2024

“Our Father” • (Arr. for 3 Voices)

This tune has many names such as “Psalm 112” and “Old Hundred Twelfth.”

Jeff Ostrowski · August 17, 2024

Music List • (20th Sund. Ordinary Time)

This coming Sunday is 18 August 2024.

“Simplified” Keyboard Accompaniment (PDF)

I’d much rather hear an organist play a simplified version correctly than listen to wrong notes. I invite you to download this simplified organ accompaniment for hymn #729 in the Father Brébeuf Hymnal. The hymn is “O Jesus Christ, Remember.” I’m toying with the idea of creating a whole bunch of these, to help amateur organists. The last one I uploaded was downloaded more than 1,900 times in a matter of hours—so there seems to be interest in such a project. For the record, this famous text by Oratorian priest, Father Edward Caswall (d. 1878) is often married to AURELIA, as it is in the Brébeuf Hymnal.

—Jeff Ostrowski

‘Bogey’ of the Half-Educated: Paraphrase

Father Adrian Porter, using the cracher dans la soupe example, did a praiseworthy job explaining the difference between ‘dynamic’ and ‘formal’ translation. This is something Monsignor Ronald Knox explained time and again—yet even now certain parties feign ignorance. I suppose there will always be people who pretend the only ‘valid’ translation of Mitigásti omnem iram tuam; avertísti ab ira indignatiónis tuæ… would be “You mitigated all ire of you; you have averted from your indignation’s ire.” Those who would defend such a translation suffer from an unfortunate malady. One of my professors called it “cognate on the brain.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Father Cuthbert Lattey • “The Hebrew MSS”

Father Cuthbert Lattey (d. 1954) wrote: “In a large number of cases the ancient Christian versions and some other ancient sources seem to have been based upon a better Hebrew text than that adopted by the rabbis for official use and alone suffered to survive. Sometimes, too, the cognate languages suggest a suitable meaning for which there is little or no support in the comparatively small amount of ancient Hebrew that has survived. The evidence of the metre is also at times so clear as of itself to furnish a strong argument; often it is confirmed by some other considerations. […] The Jewish copyists and their directors, however, seem to have lost the tradition of the metre at an early date, and the meticulous care of the rabbis in preserving their own official and traditional text (the ‘massoretic’ text) came too late, when the mischief had already been done.” • Msgr. Knox adds: “It seems the safest principle to follow the Latin—after all, St. Jerome will sometimes have had a better text than the Massoretes—except on the rare occasions when there is no sense to be extracted from the Vulgate at all.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Reminder” — Month of November (2025)

On a daily basis, I speak to people who don’t realize we publish a free newsletter (although they’ve followed our blog for years). We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and refuse to run annoying ads. As a result, our mailing list is crucial to our survival. Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Gospel Options for 2 November (“All Souls”)

We’ve been told some bishops are suppressing the TLM because of “unity.” But is unity truly found in the MISSALE RECENS? For instance, on All Souls (2 November), any of these Gospel readings may be chosen, for any reason (or for no reason at all). The same is true of the Propria Missæ and other readings—there are countless options in the ORDINARY FORM. In other words, no matter which OF parish you attend on 2 November, you’ll almost certainly hear different propers and readings, to say nothing of different ‘styles’ of music. Where is the “unity” in all this? Indeed, the Second Vatican Council solemnly declared: “Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community.”

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Our Father” • Musical Setting?

Looking through a Roman Catholic Hymnal published in 1859 by Father Guido Maria Dreves (d. 1909), I stumbled upon this very beautiful tune (PDF file). I feel it would be absolutely perfect to set the “Our Father” in German to music. Thoughts?

—Jeff Ostrowski