Views from the Choir Loft

MMV melismatic mora vocis

Jeff Ostrowski · July 23, 2026

Calling Dr. Weaver!

A remarkable exposition of the “mora vocis” (published in 1953 in the Netherlands) which doesn’t shy away from a certain item!

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Jeff Ostrowski · January 3, 2026

How Does The Vatican “Rhythm” Actually Sound?

With an excerpt from the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

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Jeff Ostrowski · December 3, 2024

PDF Download • Pristine Scan: Father Mathias’ 1905 Kyriale Organ Accompaniment (186 pages)

Father Mathias served as organist for Strasburg Cathedral, where he founded the “Saint Leo Institute for Church Music” in 1913.

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Jeff Ostrowski · September 29, 2024

An Anglican “Mess”

If I live to be 100 years old, there’s something I’ll never understand.

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Jeff Ostrowski · March 11, 2024

“Response to Dr. Weaver” • 11 March 2024

“It would be a barbarous archaism to adopt this ancient custom in our time.” —Dom Guéranger

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Jeff Ostrowski · December 1, 2023

My Response to Dr. Weaver’s Latest Article

Is it fair to forever bind Dom Guéranger to what he wrote about “barbarous archaisms” in 1855?

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 16, 2020

The “Mora Vocis” • What is that?

The “Pre-NOH” editions have quite an idiosyncratic way of lengthening the neumes. • Fulsome illustrations are included examining and explaining the mora vocis of the Vatican edition; also mentioned is Dom André Mocquereau, Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val, and Pothier’s Liber Gradualis (1883)+

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Calling Dr. Weaver!

I believe Dr. Charles Weaver will be interested in this! Published in the Netherlands in 1953, it explains how the mora vocis is treated by the official edition. It even treats the PONS ASINORUM: viz. the “mystery virga” added by the Vatican Commission on Gregorian Chant—which was not found in any previous edition by Dom Pothier. You can download this 1953 document (PDF), with a rough translation from Dutch into English. For the record, one particular sentence (“Gregoriaanse volkzang is massazang”) is difficult to interpret. Are there any Dutch speakers out there? They reference melismata when they say: “if two notes stand over a single syllable.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

SLANE • “Simplified” Keyboard Arr.

Do you know ‘SLANE’ the hymn tune?

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—Jeff Ostrowski

Insane Baroque-Era Dissonance!

The sumptuous melody called “JESU LEIDEN PEIN UND TOD” appears no fewer than three times in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal and is harmonized with standard Common Practice Era SATB voice leading and harmonies (which is only natural). However, one who takes the time to examine what Sebastian Bach did with that tune will encounter an incredibly dissonant sound. As far as I’m concerned, there is no more dissonant sound—in the entire Baroque era—than what I highlighted in yellow on that excerpt. Please let me know if you disagree.

—Jeff Ostrowski

‘Ould’ But Not Good

Dom Samuel Gregory Ould (note the spelling) was a Benedictine monk at FORT AUGUSTUS ABBEY in Scotland. As musician, organist, and composer, Dom Ould was highly regarded. Moreover, he was considered an authority on Gregorian Chant. But not everything found in an old book—or, in this case, an “Ould” book—is necessarily praiseworthy. Consider this page from Dom Ould’s hymnal. Do you see the rhymes? They offend severely by ABR (“Abuse By Reuse”) and are utterly predictable. In my recent article—Two Ways to Defile a Hymn—I addressed this topic.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Reader Feedback” • 22 June 2026

A reader wrote to us from Virginia: “I really appreciate the 23 harmonizations that you posted on CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED for the Daily, Daily, Sing to Mary hymn. I hope to find willing voices in our small Schola Cantorum to try the three-voice version. Carry on, sir! You’re doing the Lord’s work.” While we don’t know this gentleman personally, we note that he earned a Ph.D. (which demonstrates that our blog has something for everybody). 😊

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Time and Again We Are Asked…

John Baptist Singenberger (d. 1924) was a central figure of Catholic Church music. In this utterly fascinating excerpt (Single-Page PDF), Singenberger writes: Time and again we are asked: “Is the Gregorian chant to be accompanied by the organ?” As a young student in Saint Gall, Singenberger befriended SEBASTIAN GEBHARD MESSMER, the future Archbishop of Milwaukee (Wisconsin). The two graduated together in 1861. The school they attended (Saint George’s Seminary) was a “seminary”—but in the older European sense. In other words, it provided a classical education without necessarily leading to ordination. Singenberger remained a layman his whole life, but Messmer was eventually made archbishop—by Pope Saint Pius X—of the very archdiocese in Wisconsin where Singenberger would spend his American career, giving him a powerful ecclesiastical ally.

—Jeff Ostrowski