Views from the Choir Loft

1910’s Early version of Nova Organi Harmonia (NOH)

Corpus Christi Watershed · March 19, 2013

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The Nova Organi Harmonia was preceded by an earlier collection, by Lemmens professors Alfons Desmet, Aloysius Desmet et Oscar Depuydt. Canon Van Nuffel, who directed the publication of the NOH, was a student of Oscar Depuydt and Alphons Desmet. Many of the collaborators (Henri Durieux, Marinus de Jong, Flor Peeters, and Staf Nees) were students of Van Nuffel.

* * 1910’s Early version of NOH (Pars IV) — Brothers Desmet & Depuydt

• Early version of the Nova Organi Harmonia, by Desmet brothers and Osc. Depuydt • published 1910’s (?) • Organum comitans ad Graduale sacrosanctae romanae ecclesiae SS.D.N. Pii X: pontificis maximi jussu restitutum et editum • par Alph. Desmet, Aloys Desmet et Osc. Depuydt. • Mechelen [Malines]: H. Dessain. •

* * 1910’s Early version of NOH (Pars VI) — Brothers Desmet & Depuydt

• Early version of the Nova Organi Harmonia, by Desmet brothers and Osc. Depuydt • published 1910’s (?) • Organum comitans ad Graduale sacrosanctae romanae ecclesiae SS.D.N. Pii X: pontificis maximi jussu restitutum et editum • par Alph. Desmet, Aloys Desmet et Osc. Depuydt. • Mechelen [Malines]: H. Dessain. • COMMUNE SANCTORUM • This book is quite important because the opening pages have a date: 25 April 1907 •

* * 1910’s Early version of NOH (Pars VII) — Brothers Desmet & Depuydt

• Early version of the Nova Organi Harmonia, by Desmet brothers and Osc. Depuydt • published 1910’s (?) • Organum comitans ad Graduale sacrosanctae romanae ecclesiae SS.D.N. Pii X: pontificis maximi jussu restitutum et editum • par Alph. Desmet, Aloys Desmet et Osc. Depuydt. • Mechelen [Malines]: H. Dessain. • Missae Propriae pro div. dioec. Belgii •

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

“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

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—Jeff Ostrowski

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—Jeff Ostrowski

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—Corpus Christi Watershed

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—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