Views from the Choir Loft

Archives for April 2019

Dr. Lucas Tappan · April 30, 2019

A Reason To Hope

We need to remember how small the amount of yeast is that is needed to leaven the dough.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 22, 2019

Josef Hofmann: “King of Pianists”

This excerpt from a 1980 radio interview with Abe Chasins proves I’m not crazy…

Jeff Ostrowski · April 20, 2019

PDF Download • “Cheat Sheet” for Easter Vigil

Releasing this is probably a bad idea…too late!

Jeff Ostrowski · April 19, 2019

PDF Download • Organ Interludes for Manuals!

I will most definitely be playing these pieces—based on hymn tunes—by Georg Philipp Telemann!

Veronica Brandt · April 13, 2019

Oreste Ravanello’s Easy Pieces for Organ

A dozen easy little pieces for organ.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 12, 2019

Musical Program for Covid-19

Saint Vitus • MATT GONZALEZ WEDDING • Saturday, 1 August 2020…bride walks at Noon! ——Call time for singers is 10:00am ENTRANCE Organist will play INTROIT • “Deus Israël conjungat” Sung by Men from Goupil-Chant Search the René Goupil website for “pro sponsis” KYRIE #81668 — Palestrina “Fons Bonitatis” part 1 #81249 — Palestrina “Fons Bonitatis” […]

Jeff Ostrowski · April 12, 2019

The Amazing Uy Family Singers!

Not a piece you expected to hear today!

Corpus Christi Watershed · April 10, 2019

In 1991, Buchanan Predicted Ratzinger’s Election

“If the Latin Mass were available, 8% of Catholics would go every Sunday, 17% would attend frequently, and 51% occasionally.” —1991 Poll

Jeff Ostrowski · April 10, 2019

(captured by iPhone) • Rehearsing for the Symposium

Do me a huge favor…

Jeff Ostrowski · April 9, 2019

Brébeuf Harmony Edition • “Splendid Beyond Words”

Folks, there’s just one word for this: WOW.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 8, 2019

PDF Download • Spectacular “Tenebrae” Booklet

Mr. Albert Bloomfield has done us a breathtaking favor.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 6, 2019

St. Michael the Archangel Prayer…in Gregorian Chant!

From a rare book of Franciscan chants (1902)

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 4, 2019

PDF Download • Mystery Kyriale (100 Pages)

Nobody knows the author or date of publication.

“Music List” (4th Sunday of Advent, Year C)

This coming Sunday—22 December 2024—is the 4th Sunday of Advent (Year C). 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. The English version of “Roráte Cæli” we’re singing for the ENTRANCE CHANT is magnificent.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Entrance Chant” • 4th Sunday of Advent

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the 4th Sunday of Advent (22 December 2024). Set in the first mode—just like the authentic version—this setting manages to capture the “essence” of the Gregorian setting in quite an admirable way. Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, this morning I attempted to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Communion (4th Sunday of Advent)

The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (PDF) we’re singing for the 4th Sunday of Advent has a particularly gorgeous melody. The text (from the prophet Isaiah) is also quite beautiful and is cited toward the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel. It certainly seems like most of the Advent antiphons come from the book of Isaiah…

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Lessons and Carols”

Seen online! Dr. Samuel Backman conducted a “Lessons and Carols” service with his choir, and someone produced this lovely vignette.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Epiphany Proclamation 2025

Each year, without fail, someone asks me to typeset the Epiphany Proclamation, an announcement of moveable feasts chanted each year on the feast of the Epiphany. As a result, you may now find an archive of 23 such proclamations in PDF ready to print HERE.

—Veronica Brandt

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