A monthly subscription fee of $4.95 gives access to the entire website. Thank you for supporting our efforts!
1 June 1579: “The chapter passes a rule that anyone ascending to the new organ without official permission shall be fined a month’s pay.” 26 October 1579: “The altar boys remain always separate and distinct from choirboys—the one group learning only plainchant and assisting at the altar, the other living with the chapel-master and studying […]
Around the year 1955, “transcription” became a dirty word.
Back in 2001, I created an arrangement of “O Filii Et Filiae” based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel. You can access free rehearsal videos at #5909. Choirs absolutely love singing this piece. You can hear my volunteer choir singing a live recording.
The choir director’s vocation is chock-full of difficulties.
Corpus Christi Watershed has provided rehearsal videos to assist choir members who do not read music well.
Many people wonder what Cantus Gregorianus sounds like when sung according to the “official rhythm.” You can hear the Introit for Maundy Thursday sung that way—i.e. according to the “pure” Editio Vaticana—if you click here. Technically, this is the only interpretation allowed by the Church; cf. the letter of Cardinal Martinelli (18 February 1910).
The Vatican’s choir sounds beautiful these days—no longer is it “the scandal of Christendom.”
A wonderful passiontide hymn is #692 in the Brébeuf hymnal. It works especially well for Communion. Here is a live recording from last Sunday, sung by the fabulous female singers in my volunteer parish choir.
Is it “traditional” to receive Holy Communion on Good Friday?
During the procession on Palm Sunday, the 1962 rubrics allow alius cantus in honorem Christi Regis—“a hymn or song in honor of Christ the King.” A simple yet beautiful Gregorian hymn you might consider is Te Sæculorum Principem, which was composed for the feast of Christ the King by Father Vittorio Genovesi (d. 1967). The […]
I know of no author who has attempted to reconcile, explain, or justify the (obviously contradictory) “schizophrenia flaw.”
Including a remarkable musical setting by Father Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923).
During Passiontide, the hymn at Vespers is the mighty Vexilla Regis Prodeunt of Bishop Venantius Fortunatus. In 2015, I composed an organ accompaniment for this hymn with each verse written out. This comes in pretty handy on occasions when the organist must “lead the hymn from the organ bench.” Please feel free to download my […]
Certainly the only “Eucharistic” hymn to Saint Joseph I know!
For this coming Sunday (Passion Sunday), there’s only one “MMV” singers must observe—and I placed a little arrow above it.
