Views from the Choir Loft

Graduale Romanum Roman Gradual Propers

Andrew R. Motyka · May 28, 2014

Laudate Dominum Communion Antiphons

A full set of free English settings of the Communion antiphons for cantor, organ, and congregation.

Jeff Ostrowski · May 25, 2014

The Mystery of Missal vs. Gradual has been solved!

Are there concrete reasons to prefer the ancient texts from the Roman Gradual? Short answer: Yes!

Guest Author · May 19, 2014

An Overview of the Music Program at Our Lady of the Atonement Church & Academy (Part 1)

On Fridays, Mass is celebrated in Latin according to the Ordinary Form. Each day, one of the school choirs leads the liturgical singing.

Corpus Christi Watershed · May 7, 2014

Simple English Propers: Full PDF Download

As a bonus, several handy website links are given!

Jeff Ostrowski · May 5, 2014

PDF Download: Ordo Lectionum Missae & Ordo Cantus Missae

“…otherwise the entire Mass might be placed into the vernacular; whereupon the Council fathers burst into uproarious laughter.” — Cardinal Stickler speaking of Vatican II

Jeff Ostrowski · May 1, 2014

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Liturgical Translations

This is no hybrid: it’s an elegant, accurate, modern, unified English translation of the Graduale!

Jeff Ostrowski · March 2, 2014

Peter Wagner 1903 Kyriale In Gregorian Notation

Dr. Franz Karl Prassl has given us a tremendous gift.

Jeff Ostrowski · February 17, 2014

PDF Download • 1974 “Graduale Romanum”

“How can we celebrate this new rite when we have not yet got a complete missal, and there are still so many uncertainties about what to do?” — Pope Paul VI (1969 General Audience)+

Jeff Ostrowski · January 14, 2014

Does This Cartoon Sound Rude?

The intention is to get people thinking about why we substitute our own choices for the texts assigned by the Church at Entrance, Offertory, & Communion.

Jeff Ostrowski · May 10, 2013

Why No Offertory Antiphon In Roman Missal?

At last! We finally have the answer! . . . Er, sort of . . .

“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