Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Booklet • Feast of the Purification (2 February)

Jeff Ostrowski · February 2, 2020

HAVE created a printable booklet for the Feast of the Purification “Pre-Mass” Blessing of Candles, Distribution of Candles, and Procession. One of the reasons it took longer than it should have is because the 1962 Missale Romanum deleted bits and pieces—here and there—for no apparent reason. I hope you’ll let me know of any errors you find:

* PDF Download • Booklet for the Procession
—This 8-page booklet contains the chants and rubrics for “Pre-Mass”.

The rest of the chants for the Mass—score, videos, Mp3 files, and so on—can be downloaded here:

* Saint René Goupil Website

Here is an example of what you’ll find there:

These documents support my “booklet” for the Blessing of Candles:

* PDF • Candlemas 1962 Rubrics (official)
—A document in Latin containing the official rubrics from the 1962 Missal.

* PDF Download • Dom Pothier’s 1896 Liber Usualis
—Published about 10 years before the Editio Vaticana.

* PDF Download • 1903 Liber Usualis (Dom Mocquereau)
—This is not the official edition, which is called the Editio Vaticana.

* PDF Download • Candlemas in the Solesmes Graduale (1908)
—This is the Editio Vaticana with rhythmic markings by Dom Mocquereau.

* PDF • Candlemas 1957 Rubrics & Plainsong
—This document is useful because of the English translations.

* PDF • Fulton Sheen Sunday Missal (1961)
—The editor was Fr. Philip George Caraman (d. 1998).

* PDF • Saint Edmund Campion Missal (©2012)
—These Candlemas pages come from the Saint Edmund Campion Missal.

I found this in a Roman Catholic Missal from 1806, printed in London for use of the laity:

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

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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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

“Entrance Chant” • Immaculate Conception

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the Immaculate Conception (9 December 2024). It’s in the third mode—which some consider the most beautiful of all—and mimics the authentic version in a laudable 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

How Sharp Are Your Eyes?

Just around the corner is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The GREGORIAN MISSAL (Solesmes Abbey, 1990) is an utterly gorgeous book—there’s no question about that. But several typos did creep in. Can you spot the major typo for the ENTRANCE CHANT on the feast of the Immaculate Conception? How sharp are your eyes? If you succeed, send me an email letting me know.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“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

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