Views from the Choir Loft

Exsultet

Motet for Three Voices: “O Crux Ave” 1

Fr. David Friel · January 22, 2017 ·

This piece is ideal for use as a motet during the veneration of the Holy Cross at the Good Friday liturgy.

Motet for Three Voices: “O Crux Ave”

Fr. David Friel · January 24, 2016 ·

This piece is ideal for use as a motet during the veneration of the Holy Cross at the Good Friday liturgy.

All Nine Readings

Fr. David Friel · April 5, 2015 ·

Celebrating the Easter Vigil in Its Fullness

Helping Your Deacon or Priest Learn the Exsultet

Richard J. Clark · February 27, 2015 ·

Singing the “Exsultet” can be intimidating! Six pages of endless notes and words? Here are some helpful tools.

Exsultet Video Recording • Paschal Proclamation • Plus MP3 Recordings!

Jeff Ostrowski · February 23, 2012 ·

The Easter Proclamation (“Exsultet”) sung on Holy Saturday Night New Translation (Roman Missal, 3rd Edition)

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

On 12 March 1908, Feast of St. Gregory the Great, the complete publication of the “Graduale” was issued by the Vatican Press. That very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement “pro aliquibus locis”—the Introit of the new Feast of Our lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.

— A witness of the papal audience writing circa 1915