Views from the Choir Loft

Paul Inwood

Jeff Ostrowski · December 20, 2024

“Source and Summit” • What Is That?

Notice how Dom Franquesa (without explanation) stealthily annihilates sacrifice, sin, and the adoration we owe God.

Jeff Ostrowski · March 7, 2024

Paul Inwood: It’s a “Miracle” (his word) the Traditional Latin Mass Still Exists

How dare I broach such a subject?

Jeff Ostrowski · October 4, 2023

PDF Download • “Congregational Booklet” (Printable) for Jeff’s New Mass Setting

A congregational booklet requested by Mr. Seth Bauer.

Jeff Ostrowski · November 5, 2015

Liturgical Press Has An “Oops” Moment

“If we had known what the prayers really said, we would not have wanted to pray them any longer.” —Paul Inwood

Jeff Ostrowski · January 7, 2014

Which Translations Do You Prefer? Literal Or Poetic?

I never thought I’d say this … but I agree with Paul Inwood.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 13, 2013

Monsignor Richard J. Schuler Has Been Vindicated

My dad used to say, “When all you’ve got is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail.”

Jeff Ostrowski · May 23, 2013

Controversial Statements About The Mass Propers

The notion that the texts are there “to remind us that we should be singing something else” could not be further from the truth.

“Music List” • 5th Sunday of Easter (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 5th Sunday of Easter (18 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The Communion Antiphon was ‘restored’ the 1970 Missale Romanum (a.k.a. MISSALE RECENS) from an obscure martyr’s feast. Our choir is on break this Sunday, so the selections are relatively simple in nature.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Communion Chant (5th Sunday of Easter)

This coming Sunday—18 May 2025—is the 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C (MISSALE RECENS). The COMMUNION ANTIPHON “Ego Sum Vitis Vera” assigned by the Church is rather interesting, because it comes from a rare martyr’s feast: viz. Saint Vitalis of Milan. It was never part of the EDITIO VATICANA, which is the still the Church’s official edition. As a result, the musical notation had to be printed in the Ordo Cantus Missae, which appeared in 1970.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • 4th Sunday of Easter (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. I don’t know a more gorgeous ENTRANCE CHANT than the one given there: Misericórdia Dómini Plena Est Terra.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).

—Corpus Christi Watershed

When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962

There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop

—Veronica Brandt

The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum

Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.

—Daniel Tucker