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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Biography • Christopher Mueller

Christopher Mueller · January 3, 2013

HRISTOPHER MUELLER is a church musician, conductor, and composer. His most well-known composition, the Missa pro editione tertia—a congregational setting of the 2011 ICEL translation of the Ordinary of the Mass—has been purchased by parishes in Australia, Canada, the UK, and throughout the USA. Most of his compositions are choral works written to be sung at Mass, including 40 Gregorian Introits (in Latin), a nearly-complete set of Responsorial Psalms for the 3-yr. cycle, 35 Offertory settings (in English), and numerous Masses, motets, sequences, and other works. He aims to write music befitting the liturgy out of gratitude to God, the Author of beauty. His two decades of work as a church musician—in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite—have focused on Renaissance polyphony and Gregorian chant (as well as his own compositions), first with a volunteer choir at the Church of Notre Dame in New York, NY, then with the professional SCHOLA POLYPHONICA at the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist in Stamford, CT; following that with the volunteer choir at the Church of St. Bernadette in Silver Spring, MD, and the professional schola he instituted at the National Shrine of St. John Paul II in Washington, D.C.  He is presently the organist and choirmaster at St. Louis Bertrand Church in Louisville, KY, where he serves with a wonderful cadre of Dominican Friars and directs a small professional schola.

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1,400 Motets • His choirs rarely repeat music during the course of the choral year, singing 100 or more different motets each season, and he has created editions of at least 200 motets himself. Similarly, his choirs seldom repeated music from one year to the next (with notable exceptions), so that the always-changing musical experience of Mass was a reflection of the ever-new experience of Christ in the Eucharist. The texts of the motets are drawn from sacred Scripture: sometimes a setting of the day’s Offertory or Communion proper, sometimes a passage from the day’s readings, and occasionally an Office hymn or other related text. He estimates that his choirs have sung at least 1400 different Renaissance motets over the years. In addition to his musical work, he also spent seven and a-half years coordinating the marriage preparation program for the Archdiocese of New York, over the course of which he and his wife taught pre-Cana classes to thousands of engaged couples. He has an undergraduate degree in piano performance (classical) and theory/composition (jazz) and has done graduate work in theology. And he loves the novels of Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton.

Please visit Mr. Mueller’s website for more information, to listen to excerpts of his compositions, or to purchase scores.

The following shows Chris Mueller directing a choir at WORLD YOUTH DAY in Krakow, Poland:

Here’s the direct URL link.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles, Biographies Last Updated: January 4, 2024

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About Christopher Mueller

Christopher Mueller is a conductor and composer who aims to write beautiful music out of gratitude to God, Author of all beauty.—(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    Kids’ Choir Sings Thomas Aquinas
    Last Sunday, a children’s choir I’m teaching sang with us for the very first time at Sunday Mass. Females from our main choir sang along with them. If you’re curious to hear how they sounded, you can listen to a ‘live’ recording. That’s an English version of TANTUM ERGO by Saint Thomas Aquinas. That haunting melody is called GAUFESTRE and was employed for this 2-Voice Arrangement of a special hymn for 9 November (“Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome”) which replaces a Sunday this year.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Prex • Particularly Powerful
    The Third Edition of the SAINT EDMUND CAMPION MISSAL contains a Latin-English translation for the ‘old’ Holy Week published by Monsignor Ronald Knox in 1950. His version is utterly splendid, and it’s astonishing it was totally forgotten for 70+ years. I find his translation of a prayer from Palm Sunday (Deus qui dispérsa cóngregas) particularly powerful: “O God, who dost mend what is shattered, and what thou hast mended, ever dost preserve, thou didst bless the chance comers who met Jesus with branches in their hands. Bless these branches too, of palm or olive, which we take up obediently in honour of thy name; rest they where they will, let them carry thy blessing to all who dwell there. All harm thence banish, and let thy power defend us, in proof that thy Son, Jesus Christ, has redeemed us…”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Reminder” — Month of September (2025)
    Those who don’t sign up for our free EMAIL NEWSLETTER miss important notifications. Last week, for example, I sent a message about this job opening for a music director paying $65,000 per year plus benefits (plus weddings & funerals). Notice the job description says: “our vision for sacred music is to move from singing at Mass to truly singing the Mass wherein … especially the propers, ordinaries, and dialogues are given their proper place.” Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Did they simplify these hymn harmonies?
    Choirs love to sing the famous & splendid tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1952, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. In other words, their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1952 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. I really like the groovy Germanic INTRODUCTION they added.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF Download • “Side-By-Side Comparison”
    Pope Urban VIII modified almost all the Church’s ancient hymns in 1632AD. The team responsible for creating the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal spent years comparing the different versions of each hymn: “Urbanite” vs. “pre-Urbanite.” When it comes to the special hymn for the upcoming feast (9 November)—URBS BEATA JERUSALEM—Dr. Adrian Fortescue pointed out that “the people who changed it in the 17th century did not even keep its metre; so the later version cannot be sung to the old, exceedingly beautiful tune.” Monsignor Hugh Thomas Henry (d. 1946), a professor of Gregorian Chant at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary (Overbrook, Philadelphia), wrote: “Of this hymn in particular some think that, whereas it did not suffer as much as some others, yet it lost much of its beauty in the revision; others declare that it was admirably transformed without unduly modifying the sense.” You can use this side-by-side comparison chart to compare both versions. When it comes to its meaning, there’s little significant difference between the two versions: e.g. “name of Christ” vs. “love of Christ.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

An Indult of the “Commission for Russia” (25 November 1929) authorizes Bishops and Administrators Apostolic in Russia to permit the celebration of Mass and the reception of Holy Communion in the afternoon or evening, on condition that a Eucharistic fast of four hours from noon be observed.

— Sacred Congregation of Rites, 25 nov 1929

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