Views from the Choir Loft

This Saturday! • Solemn Pontifcal Mass in D.C.

Andrew Leung · April 26, 2018

WAS INFORMED THAT a Solemn Pontifical Mass will be offered in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception this coming Saturday, April 28, at 1pm.

The Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample, Archbishop of Portland, Oregon, will be celebrating the Mass in the Extraordinary Form; and he will be assisted by famous clergy from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. The Mass is being celebrated in honor of the 10th anniversary of Summorum Pontificum.

* * PDF Download • FULL DETAILS

If you are living near Washington DC, this is something you do not want to miss! The music—including Victoria’s Missa Salve Regina and other Renaissance motets—will be provided by the Basilica Choir; and the Propers will be sung by the schola of St. Mary Mother of God Parish at the nearby Chinatown.

The Mass will be broadcast by EWTN.

AM ALSO AWARE OF another Solemn High Mass that happened about two weeks ago on Low Sunday (Sunday within the Octave of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday). The Mass was held at the National Shrine of St. Alphonsus of Liguori in Baltimore, MD, which was recently entrusted to the Fraternity. The historic Shrine was founded in 1845 and exists within the Diocese of Baltimore, the oldest Catholic Diocese in the United States.

Pictures of the Mass can be found on An American Photographer. The Mass was celebrated by Fr. Joel Kiefer, FSSP, the pastor of the Shrine. Fr. Kiefer was the associate pastor at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Atlanta, GA, prior his current assignment. I had the privilege to meet him when I was the director of music at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Conyers, GA. I would sing with the schola at St. Francis de Sales occasionally on special feast days during weekdays.

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