Views from the Choir Loft

Articles

Andrew Leung · January 4, 2013

Biography • Andrew Leung

Andrew holds a degree in Sacred music from the Franciscan University of Steubenville…

Christopher Mueller · January 3, 2013

Biography • Christopher Mueller

Christopher is a church musician, conductor, and composer…

Cynthia Ostrowski · January 3, 2013

Extraordinary Form Hymnal

A brand new Latin Mass book—992 pages long—went to print on 12/24/2012.

Cynthia Ostrowski · January 2, 2013

Biography • Cynthia Ostrowski

Cynthia holds a bachelor’s degree in Geographic Information Science . . .

Fr. David Friel · January 1, 2013

Recipe for A Happy 2013

Honor Thy Father & Mother

Jeff Ostrowski · December 30, 2012

Introduction To “Views From The Choir Loft”

We are excited to announce a new Blog dedicated to Sacred Music & Liturgy!

Jeff Ostrowski · December 24, 2012

Biography • Jeffrey M. Ostrowski

Jeff holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas . . .

Fr. David Friel · December 24, 2012

Midnight Mass

A Timeless Tradition

Aurelio Porfiri · December 22, 2012

Aurelio Porfiri

Aurelio is renowned as a conductor, theorist, organist, author …

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski · December 22, 2012

Reason and Mystery

Let us not abandon the heart of the mind and the mind of the heart.

Fr. David Friel · December 21, 2012

What Jesus Looked Like

An Idea

Dr. Lucas Tappan · December 21, 2012

Biography • Dr. Lucas Tappan

Lucas founded the Most Pure Heart of Mary Schola in 2011…

Cynthia Ostrowski · December 20, 2012

Latin Mass In The Pantheon (Rome)

Many people might not realize the Pantheon has been a Catholic Church for centuries.

Fr. David Friel · December 18, 2012

The Antidote to Violence

Welcoming the Child

Fr. David Friel · December 14, 2012

Advent vs. the Saints

Can We Have a Truce?

“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

“Liberalism in religion is the doctrine that there is no positive truth in religion, but that one creed is as good as another… It teaches that all are to be tolerated, for all are matters of opinion. Revealed religion is not a truth, but a sentiment and a taste; not an objective fact, not miraculous; and it is the right of each individual to make it say just what strikes his fancy. […] Men may go to Protestant Churches and to Catholic, may get good from both and belong to neither.”

— Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman (May of 1879)