Views from the Choir Loft

Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council

The Historic Adaptability of the Marriage Rite

Fr. David Friel · December 11, 2016 ·

Evidence from Trent and Vatican II

A Serious Question About Vatican II

Jeff Ostrowski · September 9, 2016 ·

Vatican II spoke of “useless repetitions” in the liturgy, and said these should be examined…

Are the Readings at Mass Meant to Be Didactic or Doxological?

Fr. David Friel · July 17, 2016 ·

Reflections from the Fota IX International Liturgy Conference

Colloquium 2016 • Day 3

Fr. David Friel · June 23, 2016 ·

The Organic Development of the Liturgy and the New Music Breakouts

Too Many Options

Fr. David Friel · January 31, 2016 ·

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

Sacra Liturgia UK — Registration Now Open

Fr. David Friel · January 17, 2016 ·

An International Conference on Liturgical Formation in Light of the New Evangelization

In Memoriam: Dr. Lucy E. Carroll, DMA

Fr. David Friel · June 28, 2015 ·

Lucy was a friend and mentor to me, and I would like to share with you a little bit of her story.

Sacra Liturgia 2015 — Update II

Fr. David Friel · June 3, 2015 ·

Fourteen (14) practical ideas for how a priest might transform his celebration of the Ordinary Form

Sacra Liturgia 2015 — Update I

Fr. David Friel · June 1, 2015 ·

Cardinal Sarah reveals the instructions he received from Pope Francis upon his appointment as Prefect of the CDW.

A Mini History of the Sequences

Fr. David Friel · May 24, 2015 ·

At the height of their usage, there were proper sequences for nearly every Sunday and feast day.

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