Views from the Choir Loft

Hymns Replacing Propers

Fr. David Friel · March 31, 2019

Sacred Music US • Website for Fr. Weber’s Resources

A website exists to disseminate Fr. Samuel Weber’s sacred music resources

Fr. David Friel · May 14, 2017

Podcast on Sacred Music

An interview with the blog, “Seminarian Casual”

Fr. David Friel · March 19, 2017

What to Do with the “Fourth Option”

A new Adoremus article explores how best to overthrow the tyranny of “alius cantus congruus.”

Fr. David Friel · October 2, 2016

New Collection of Propers from GIA

The growing market for Mass propers is a sign of promise.

Jeff Ostrowski · September 29, 2016

Why Did Vatican II Happen?

These might not constitute the most perfect way to assist at Mass, but they’re very nice (German) hymn tunes!

Fr. David Friel · September 25, 2016

Turning Off the Air Conditioning

Taking Advantage of the Natural Beauty that Surrounds Us

Jeff Ostrowski · September 20, 2016

Catastrophic Results of USCCB “Interpretation”

“Peace, peace, peace on earth; peace to God’s people, all people on earth.”

Fr. David Friel · September 11, 2016

Composition Contest

Submissions Sought by the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians

Fr. David Friel · August 7, 2016

A Different Kind of World Youth Day

Sacred Music Helped to Transform Tauron Arena Kraków into a House of Prayer

Jeff Ostrowski · August 1, 2016

Does Your Bishop Enforce The GIRM?

They will assume—and why shouldn’t they?—that “approved by the USCCB” applies to the hymns and songs…

Fr. David Friel · April 24, 2016

Instruction on Sacred Music by Bishop John Doerfler

Introducing a Five-Year Plan for the Future of Sacred Music in the Diocese of Marquette

Jeff Ostrowski · April 18, 2016

“No Time For Cowardice” • My Open Letter To Liturgy Columnists

Too many columnists focus endlessly on minutiae while leaving untouched a crucial issue.

Jeff Ostrowski · March 21, 2016

A Church Music Issue Nobody Will Touch

Numerous articles have been written about Cardinal Sarah’s “foot washing” communique.

Jeff Ostrowski · February 16, 2016

Something That Would Fix So Much … But Nobody Mentions It

Is this “tacit” approval really “imaginary” approval?

Fr. David Friel · January 31, 2016

Too Many Options

Allowing Adolescents to Choose Their Faith & the Wide-Open Permissions of the GIRM

Veronica Brandt · May 9, 2015

The difference between Anything and Everything.

Where free choice can lead to chaos or paralysis.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 29, 2015

Liturgical Silence—But Not What You Think!

When I was young, I would have tried to argue.

Fr. David Friel · April 26, 2015

A Criticism & Good News

Another Look at Fr. Weber’s “The Proper of the Mass”

Fr. David Friel · April 19, 2015

“Proper Of The Mass” (Ignatius Press) • Part 4 of 7

The Next Big Thing Is Here

Jeff Ostrowski · April 13, 2015

Nixon, Watergate, & Singing The Mass Propers

Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Dean, Nixon, and others made tons of money writing and speaking about Watergate.

20 October 2020 • “What we can’t share”

Almighty God has given to us the example of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America, whose feast day we celebrated yesterday. Of course, along with those eight martyrs we honor their associates, e.g Father François Bressani. I can’t share with you the torments Father Bressani underwent at the hands of Iroquois: it is too brutal. It would tear your heart out. But I will share what Bressani’s Superior said, after receiving a letter from him: “The letter is soiled and ill-written; because the writer has only one finger left on his right hand, and cannot prevent the blood from his wounds—which are still open—from staining the paper. His ink is gunpowder mixed with water, and his table is the earth.” If you have the stomach for it, read what Father Bressani (d. 1672) underwent for Jesus Christ. Let his example help us never fall into sins of impurity, avarice, ingratitude, or envy.

—Jeff Ostrowski

13 October 2020 • Chopin talks Bach

My “pianist pedigree” goes from my teacher through Wiktor Łabuński through Felix Blumenfeld, who studied with Anton Rubinstein. I always considered myself part of the “Bach-Mozart-Chopin school” as opposed to the “Handel-Beethoven-Liszt school.” (Needless to say, there’s great overlap between these schools.) Before giving a concert, Frédéric Chopin would always shut himself up in a room and play through Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. The year Chopin died, he spent considerable time with the painter, Eugène Delacroix (d. 1863), who recounts hearing Chopin launch into a monologue on the transcendence of J.S. Bach, insisting that “the fugue is like pure logic in music,” and that “to know fugue deeply is to be acquainted with the element of all reason and all consistency in music.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

12 October 2020 • True Story

Before a Low Mass, the priest ascends the Altar to place the Chalice, check the altar Missal, and do other “preparing” tasks. The organist must be prepared to play here, and—depending upon the priest—this can be of surprising length! For certain priests, I can easily play all six verses of a hymn while he’s doing these tasks. In the Ordinary Form, I believe too many have abandoned the preparation time before Mass (vesting, praying, keeping silence, and so on). I remember waiting for a priest to arrive in Corpus Christi, so I could ask him about the music. He never did arrive, because he had gotten into his vehicle wearing his chasuble, parked, hopped out of his truck (fully vested), and literally “processed” in as he entered the Church…true story.

—Jeff Ostrowski