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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “New Westminster Hymnal” (1939)

Jeff Ostrowski · March 7, 2016

702 NEW WESTMINSTER HYMNAL (1939) Ronald Knox Dom Gregory Murray ERE’S THE FOURTH PART in a series I’m creating to convince readers to donate $5.00 per month. Scroll down to access the other installments. By the way, the fifth installment (forthcoming) will make you very happy!

All 452 pages of NEW WESTMINSTER HYMNAL—one of the most remarkable ever Catholic hymnals ever produced—has been made available for the first time:

    * *  PDF Download • NEW WESTMINSTER HYMNAL (1939)

If you value rare books like this one, please consider donating $5.00 per month. Watershed is a 100% volunteer organization; none of us is paid. Without your support, we cannot continue.

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL about hymn books like this? For one thing, it contains numerous Gregorian accompaniments by Dom Gregory Murray. (You can compare Murray’s version of “Corde Natus Ex Parentis” to mine.) This is to say nothing of the excellent hymn texts by Msgr. Ronald Knox and others. Moreover, interesting pairings abound. Consider, for example, Number 32, which takes my favorite Lenten hymn and adds a text by Alan McDougall, whose poetry was prominent in the Campion Hymnal.

Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) has this to say about the work of Msgr. Ronald Knox on the NEW WESTMINSTER HYMNAL:

At the Low Week meeting of the hierarchy in 1936, Ronald had been appointed to a committee to revise the WESTMINSTER HYMNAL. Some converts from Protestantism repine at their lost opportunities for congregational singing. Indeed, many adult English Catholics do not hear a hymn from one year’s end to another. Ronald attributed this silence to the low literary quality of many Catholic hymns. He took the work of revision very seriously, and his taste—more than that of any other individual—pervaded the committee, whose deliberations were protracted for two years. He attended every meeting, succeeded in introducing several hymns from Catholic sources which had previously been known only to those who used the ENGLISH HYMNAL, and the work of comparatively modern poets such as Francis Thompson, G. K. Chesterton, Lionel Johnson, Canon Gray, and “Michael Field.” More than this, he made 47 translations from the Latin (out of a total of 106, only 9 of which were by living writers) and contributed 4 original hymns. The new book bears his personal marks clearly; it was issued in 1940 and cordially welcomed by informed critics. Catholic parishes are slow to change their habits. They still sing what the oldest members learned at school. A full generation must pass before the innovations, so patiently debated, are allowed to fulfil their work of enrichment.

This article is part of a series:

PART 1 • Simple SATB Kyrie by Guerrero

PART 2 • 1913 Woodward Hymnal … Outrageously Rare!

PART 3 • Rehearsal videos for Lenten Hymn

PART 4 • New Westminster Hymnal … For the first time ever!

PART 5 • Rehearsal Videos for Forty-Three (43) Pieces

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Can You Spare 33 Seconds?

Here’s an audio excerpt (33 seconds) of a setting for Kyrie VIII which was recorded live last Sunday at our parish in Los Angeles. The setting (“Missa de Angelis”) is by composer Richard Rice, and you can download the free PDF if you click here and scroll to the bottom. I think Richard’s composition is marvelous. I missed a few notes on the organ, but I’ll get them right next time.

—Jeff Ostrowski
5 April 2021 • When Girls Sing

Covid restrictions here in California are still extremely severe—switching “two weeks to flatten the curve” into “two years to flatten the curve.” Since 2020, we’ve had police breaking into our church to check if everyone is wearing a mask…even when only 5-6 people are present! But we were allowed to have a small percentage of our singers back on Easter Sunday, and here is their live recording of the ancient Catholic hymn for Eastertide: Ad Cenam Agni Providi. The girls were so very excited to sing again—you can hear it in their voices!

—Jeff Ostrowski
29 March 2021 • FEEDBACK

“E.S.” in North Dakota writes: “I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for all the hard work you have put—and continue to put—into your wonderful website. In the past two years, my parish has moved from a little house basement into a brand new church and gone from a few families receiving Low Masses twice a month to several families (and many individuals) receiving Mass every Sunday, two Saturdays a month, and every Holy Day. Our priest has been incorporating more and more High Masses and various ceremonies into our lives, which has made my job as a huge newbie choir master very trying and complicated. CCWatershed has been an invaluable resource in helping me get on my feet and know what to do!!! Thank you more than I can express! May God bless you abundantly and assist you in your work and daily lives!”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Catholics in America have been the heirs of a sentimental and subjective hymn tradition that, for some reason or other, has taken a deep and fast hold on the fancy of the average person.”

— Fr. Francis Brunner (1953)

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