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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Gregorian Rhythm Wars

Jeff Ostrowski · March 18, 2023

Sneaky “Salicus” Statements by Solesmes

Let there be no mistake about it: Dom Mocquereau (illicitly) added the “salicus” in hundreds of places where the official edition has none.

Patrick Williams · March 15, 2023

Ictus Fictus!

“Hardly any of this made-up system has its basis in medieval music theory or in the manuscripts themselves.”—Patrick Williams

Charles Weaver · March 13, 2023

Rhetoric, Number, Measure, and Historicism

The beginnings of a response to mensuralism from the classic Solesmes point of view.

Patrick Williams · March 10, 2023

Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “Clap Your Hands!” (10 Mar 2023)

“With my questions unanswered by those objecting to rhythmic markings based on the oldest sources, it is difficult to take their arguments seriously.” —Patrick Williams

Patrick Williams · February 15, 2023

Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “Liturgical Recitative” (15 Feb 2023)

“May our voices be the instruments through which God breathes new life into the ancient chants of the Catholic Church, decrepit through centuries of neglect and misinterpretation!” —Patrick Williams

Patrick Williams · February 7, 2023

Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “The Normal Syllabic Value” (6 Feb 2023)

“The problem with semiology is not that it neglects the rhythmic indications of the oldest sources, but rather that it overinterprets them, like the nuance theory on steroids.” —Patrick Williams

Patrick Williams · January 2, 2023

Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “Chorale and Chant Carefully Considered” (2 Jan 2023)

“The equalist plainchant of the High Middle Ages is as far removed from the rhythmic chant of the Early Middle Ages as the isometric chorales are from their rhythmic predecessors.” —Patrick Williams

Patrick Williams · December 19, 2022

Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “Patrick’s Third Response to Jeff” (19 Dec 2022)

“The original chant handed down from the Fathers of the Church has strict rhythmic proportions and a steady beat.” —Patrick Williams

Matthew Frederes · December 12, 2022

Recent Book! • “The Politics of Plainchant”

Fascinating details from never-before-seen letters recently discovered in southern France!

Jeff Ostrowski · December 10, 2022

PDF Download • “Kyriale Accompaniment Book” by Dr. Peter Wagner (138 pages)

… including a deliciously dazzling discovery you won’t want to miss!

Charles Weaver · December 8, 2022

Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “The Limits of History”

There’s nothing necessarily authentic about the “authentic” rhythm.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 7, 2022

PDF Download • “Salve Regina” [Simplex] • An Elegant English Translation (2022)

The incomparable Andrew Hinkley kindly set it to plainchant notation.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 6, 2022

Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “Jeff’s Second Response to Patrick” (6 Dec 2022)

You look upon these thousands of manuscripts in much the same way that I view the plainsong editions of Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers.

Patrick Williams · November 30, 2022

Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “History Matters” (30 Nov 2022)

“It is important that these melodies should be performed in the manner that they were originally conceived as works of art.” —St. Pius X

Charles Weaver · November 26, 2022

Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “On the Nuance Theory of Plainchant”

A brief historical survey of free rhythm in plainchant, as practiced from the modern monastic foundation of Solesmes (1833) to the present.

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Angularis fundamentum” is typically sung at the dedication or consecration of a church and on church anniversaries. For constructions too numerous to list in recent generations, it would be more appropriate to sing that Christ had been made a temporary foundation. A dispirited generation built temporary housing for its Lord, and in the next millnenium, the ease of its removal may be looked back upon as its chief virtue.

— Fr. George Rutler (2016)

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