Views from the Choir Loft

Sacred Music Colloquium XXV — Update I

Andrew Leung · June 29, 2015

T IS GREAT TO BE HERE. It is great to be in Pittsburgh for the twenty-fifth Sacred Music Colloquium organized by the Church Music Association of America. This meeting is not only an academic conference and spiritual retreat, but also a great time to hang out with old friends and meet new ones. In the coming few days, I will be posting a report at the end of each day for friends who are not able to participate the Colloquium this year.

ONIGHT, Dr. William Mahrt, President of the Church Music Association of America, delivered his welcoming speech at the dinner. He gave an introduction on what we will be doing at this Colloquium. He mentioned the three characteristics of Sacred Music from Pope St. Pius X’s Tra le Sollecitudini: Sacred, Beautiful and Universal. He told us that we are about to experience the sacredness and beauty of the Church’s music, especially Gregorian Chant and Classical Polyphony. The aim of the Colloquium is that the participants, who will experience the sacredness and beauty of Sacred Music, will go out to the world and make it universal.

In his speech, Dr. Mahrt also talked about the Liturgies that we will be participating this week. He mentioned about the Liturgy of the Hours, he said, “We must pray the Liturgy of the Hours as the Liturgy of the Hours”. Which means that we need to pray it throughout the day. Dr. Mahrt also said that we should reflect on the relationship between the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Masses will be celebrated in both Forms this week: once in English Novus Ordo, twice in Latin Novus Ordo and twice in Vetus Ordo.

FTER THE OPENING DINNER, we had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Ann Labounsky’s special recital on the newly-installed pipe organ in the Duquesne Chapel. The recital featured mainly French pieces, which is what Dr. Labounsky is known for, and ended with a wonderful improvisation on two themes (King’s Weston tune or “At the Name of Jesus”, and the simple tone Salve Regina) submitted by Dr. Mahrt. We ended the night with the Compline sung by almost two hundreds participants. It was truly a powerful prayer and moving experience.

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

About Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

“Music List” • (Christ the King Sunday)

This coming Sunday—24 November 2024—is Christ the King Sunday (a.k.a. “Final Sunday in Ordinary Time”). Some have expressed interest in perusing my “ORDER OF MUSIC.” If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. You’ll notice we’re learning Moreau’s “Congregational Polyphonic Enhancement” for the OUR FATHER. And the the Mode 3 ENTRANCE CHANT is utterly sublime.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Entrance Chant” • Christ the King

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the Solemnity of Christ the King (24 November 2024). It mimics the Mode III Latin version in a truly spectacular way. Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, I attempted to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • (33rd Sund. Ordinary Time)

This coming Sunday—17 November 2024—is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. Some have expressed interest in perusing my “ORDER OF MUSIC.” If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. You’ll notice we’re learning Moreau’s “Congregational Polyphonic Enhancement” for the OUR FATHER. For the record, our opening hymn is particularly beautiful. So is the Mode 6 ENTRANCE CHANT.

—Jeff Ostrowski

The Breviary in the Life of the Laity

Recently I have been enjoying looking through the inaugural (1927) edition of a 20th-century liturgical magazine called Orate Fratres. The July 1927 issue included an excellent article by a Chicago laywoman named Ellen Gates Starr entitled “The Delights of the Breviary: From the Point of View of a Lay Woman.” As we in the 21st century have recently undergone a (blessed!) re-translation of the missal into English, and as we await with joyful hope (please God, before Jesus comes back!) a similar re-translation of the breviary, the opening of her article reminded me of that old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Nearly a hundred years ago, she penned words that could just as easily have been written today: “It is indeed a privilege to be allowed any participation, however slight, in the liturgical movement in the Church – the movement to bring back the classics of devotion, the Missal and the Breviary, into general use by the laity. The wonder is that they should ever have fallen into disuse. Nothing can take the place of these great universal prayers of the Church, the prayers of the Mass and the divine Office. One has only to know them to find them indispensable. And alas, how few of the laity know them!” I know that I have been tremendously nourished by regular praying of the breviary as of late, and my wish is that you and I, dear reader, may continue to nourish our interior lives with the official prayer of the Church, which present to us (in the Mass) and extend (in the Office) the fullness of Christ’s greatest gift to us – the gift of Himself – in the Most Holy Eucharist.

—Daniel Tucker

Principles vs Preferences

I ran into this idea recently: principles vs. preferences in planning out a curriculum or music lineup. In this idea, it is imperative to not misconstrue personal preferences into principles—that the music (or subject matter) is great because: “I have good taste, and I like it.” De gustibus… Education, study and docility to the Magisterium of the Church on matters of liturgical music must be present in those who make the music at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Hours. Who knows? Maybe you might start to prefer the music that is fitting according to the principles Catholic Sacred Music?

—William J. Fritz

Liquescent Notes in the Official Edition

The official edition—the EDITIO VATICANA itself—is somewhat inconsistent when it comes to liquescent notes. If you wish to see a perfect “apples-to-apples” comparison, click here. Such “inconsistency” was not owing to ignorance on the part of Abbat Pothier: the manuscripts themselves are inconsistent when it comes to liquescent notes.

—Jeff Ostrowski