Gregorian Chant: General - MusicaSacra Church Music Forum

Gregorian Chant has "pride of place": English or Latin?

JonDeuling — Fri, 26 May 2023 05:10:57 +0000

Hey folks,

Do the church documents specify anywhere that Greg. Chant must be in Latin in order to hold a "pride of place", as we talk about all the time? Or can we make tasteful English chants which also hold the same place alongside their Latin brethren?

The most beautiful Vexilla Regis that you’ve never heard

ServiamScores — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:21:29 +0000

Just what it says on the tin! I transcribed this directly from a 1732 manuscript in my collection. The melody is not in Gregobase (at least, not with this text).

https://psallitedomino.com/blog/vexilla-regis-1732

Demo: https://youtu.be/aJb9VZzsvf4?si=P84GRuekAnYlfbNv

Credo III

KatelynW — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 23:37:49 +0000

Is there a good copy online of Credo III in modern notation?

Moods of the 8 Gregorian modes

AngelaR — Sun, 28 Dec 2025 21:33:54 +0000

Hello, everyone! I wrote something this month. (Fair warning, some might find part of my treatment a little unconventional, especially the Beatles song in chant notation.)

I hope some here will find it interesting/helpful. Merry Fourth Day of Christmas!

https://www.chantacademy.com/post/praying-with-gregorian-chant-part-iv

Compline Booklet Download (Latin-English side-by-side, LOTH, complete)

JeremyCains — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 12:28:02 +0000

Surrexit Christus!

I have put together a Latin-English side-by-side A4 chant booklet for Ordinary Form Compline for every day of the year.

The Gregorian chant is taken principally from Joerg Hudelmaier's compilation of chants for the 2015 Ordo Cantus Officii (OCO). Other pieces where compiled from his Easter chants PDF, from Steven van Roode's Ad Completorium, and from the 2009 Antiphonale Romanum II and 2005 Antiphonale Monasticum from the monks of Solesmes. I must also thank Benjamin Bloomfield for his chant tools, and the people behind the Gregorio project. God bless all these men. I am very grateful to them.

I have provided all the files at https://codeberg.org/JeremyCains/BilingualCompline. I suppose someone might be able to use it for other languages.

There is a little more information over on the Git repository.

I have attached a PDF, but the most up-to-date PDF will be in the release page of the Git repository. On the same page there is an A3 PDF, so that you can print it and fold it into a book.

Let me know if I need to fix anything.

I pray that this book may advance the glory of God and the honour of Our Blessed Mother.

In Christ,
Jeremy.

PS. Edit 2026-04-19 I updated the PDF, since I had missed that Alleluia antiphon after Sunday After II Vespers' psalm.

Compilation of Tenebræ Lesson tones?

xmarteo — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 10:16:20 +0000

This year at public Tenebræ in my parish, two of my schola members, to my surprise, said they didn't feel comfortable singing lessons - not lamentations, but the lessons in the 2nd and 3rd nocturn - on account of not having a score, but only the pointed text and a cheat sheet with the cadences.

I personally vastly prefer singing lessons from the text alone than from a fully notated score, but to each their own.

I am well aware of the 1934 Cantus Lamentationum, but it has only the lamentations as the text suggests - and it does not have the Roman tone found in the Liber Usualis and in the 1922 Holy Week ed.typ.

Is anyone aware of a book that would have both the Roman and Hispanic Lamentations, and full notation for the other lessons, in all three Lesson tones?

If it does not exist, I will self-publish it, it will be less than a day's work.

Searching this forum yields a few PDFs but no complete results. The closest seems to have been Hugh https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/profile/170/Hugh with his publications on Fidelity Books, but they are no longer listed by Fidelity Books, plus his booklets only had one tone for each lesson.

a well sung lamentation for maundy Thursday from the Mozarabic tradition.

Simon — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:54:20 +0000

salve festa dies organ accompaniment NEEDED

francis — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 03:04:17 +0000

Looking for a very simple accompaniment on the 8 foot flute for tomorrow’s vigil

Something close to this would be great

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b-5-aocDBPM

Anyone?

Ordinary Form LotH Chanted according to the OCO (2015)

lstager — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 21:18:19 +0000

I have created a pdf of the chanted Liturgy of the Hours (Lauds, Vespers, and Office of Readings) according to the Ordo Cantus Officii (2015) and Holger Peter Sandhofe's Ordo Responsorialis (2004). I use the "official" Latin chanted antiphons, the new approved English translation of the hymns from the Divine Office Hymnal but set to the traditional Latin tunes as in the Liber Hymnarius. For this edition, I used the new Revised Grail Psalms. The only things that won't correspond to the new translation of the LOTH are the readings, intercessions, and the psalter collect prayers. It also does not contain the long readings for the Office of Readings, but it does contain the Responsoria Prolixa, which I mostly selected from Sandhofe's Ordo, but where there was a Latin chant that corresponded to the text in the breviary, I put that chant there instead. It doesn't include the text for the Magnificat or Benedictus because I have those memorized. I do have a small packet with the psalm tones and texts for the Benedictus and Magnificat, but it is not yet fully complete. Also, while I put the psalm tones in, I did not point any of the texts, as it seems that there are many competing philosophies as to how to properly do it in English.

This is the Liturgy of the Hours as I am accustomed to pray it daily. You may notice that much of the volume is redundant. This is because as someone who has prayed/chanted the LotH regularly for many, many years, I have often been frustrated by the amount of page turning (especially in the commons or anytime the Sunday Week 1 psalms are used for instance). I realize that the new translation will be coming out relatively soon, but this is what I will be/have been using in the meantime.

Meanwhile, since I have never made a post in these forums (at least not for a long time), I can introduce myself as Luke Stager. I currently teach at the Madeleine Choir School in Salt Lake City along with singing in the adult choir that is attached to the Cathedral of the Madeleine. I attended seminary at Mount Angel for the Archdiocese of Portland from 2015-2019, during which time I began preparing chanted Sunday Lauds according to the then very new Ordo Cantus Officii for me and a few other seminarians. Since then I have slowly compiled the chants from that volume from various sources. I have drafts of other volumes for Ordinary time, Lent, and Easter, but they require some more formatting currently. If you’d like to support the continuation of this project, please reach out to me via a direct message.

This has been a many years effort, especially during the last six years, and I am happy it is close to completion, at least until the new translation officially comes out. I should say this is for private use only, since this is not by any means a sanctioned or approved publication. If you have any questions about the volume or its compilation, please let me know.

Here is a link to it on Google Drive (you will have to request permission): https://drive.google.com/file/d/18VDcLXJKXGLTpJHw1w-NSFaOFdsA-05g/view?usp=drive_link

Lamentationes ex Codice Silensi

mfomich — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 12:43:32 +0000

Last year I've seen Mozarabic Lamentations in gabc format somewhere but now I can't find them anymore. Can anyone help me please?

Are there organ accompaniments for the Graduale Parvum?

Michael_Osborne — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 02:31:48 +0000

All the audio demos here are accompanied, and I was wondering if these have been made available.

Also, is it possible to buy it in the US, or do you have to buy it from CTS Books?

Interlinear English-Latin hymnals?

Geremia — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 22:13:22 +0000

Are there "interlinear" Latin-English hymnals? Angelus Press's 2^nd ed. hymnal contains very literal interlinear English translations for many hymns, but are there hymnals with "slavishly literal" translations of hymns like Te Ioseph, etc.?

What prompted this question was another: Why is Te Ioseph Celebrent's Latin so "dense"? As a newcomer to Latin, it is one of the harder-to-understand texts for me, probably because of the rarer vocabulary and word order. Does anyone else have this problem? It reminds me of the Latin of the St. Michael prayer, which was more difficult for me to memorize when I first learned it.
1. Te, Joseph, celebrent agmina caelitum Te cuncti resonent christiadum chori Qui clarus meritis junctus et inclytae Casto foedere Virgini. 2. Almo cum tumidam germine conjugem admirans dubio tangeris anxius, afflatu superi flaminis angelus conceptum puerum docet. 3. Tu natum Dominum stringis ad dexteras, Aegipti profugum tu sequeris plagas: amissum Solymis qaeris et invenis, miscens gaudia fletibus. 4. Post mortem reliquos sors pia consecrat, Palmanque emeritos gloria suscipit: Tu vivens, superis par, frueris Deo Mira sorte beatior. 5. Nobis Summa Trias parce precantibus: da Joseph meritis sidera scandere, ut tandem liceat nos tibi perpetim, gratum promere canticum. 1. Let the hosts of heaven celebrate you, Joseph, Let all the choirs of Christendom resound you who, famous for your merits, was joined to the glorious Virgin in chaste wedlock. 2. When your betrothed became great with precious seed, amazement and doubt made you anxious. It is by the breath of the divine Spirit, an Angel tells you, that the son has been conceived. 3. You did embrace the new-born Lord, and to the furthest Egypt coasts you followed Him in exile, Lost in Jerusalem, you sought and found Him, mixing joy with tears. 4. After death most are blest by a loving destiny and, when they have won the palm, they are welcomed into glory. But you, while you lived, like the saints above, were with God, blest more than others by this wondrous lot. 5. Spare us, highest Trinity, as we pray, Grant that through Joseph's merits we may rise to heaven, So that at last we may offer perpetually our grateful songs.

chant-based organ scores

eft94530 — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:15:21 +0000

Questions about chant-based organ scores have appeared several times.
I have started this discussion to capture the suggestions and insights
in one place.

When contributing, may I suggest that each post should have ...
one composer
one book or score title
identify the chant or fragments it contains (chant text, Liber Usualis page, Graduale page)
maybe a URL pointing to an online score
maybe a URL pointing to an online sound file
avoid abbreviations
Use the "edit" link to update your contribution as you discover more info related to your entry.

==========

Why chant-based organ scores?
Well, if you need an answer, how about this ...

Organists & Organ Playing in 19th-Century France & Belgium
by Orpha Ochse

page 139:

One of the most persistent and perhaps the most effective
advocate for the use of Gregorian melodies in organ music
was Alexandre Guilmant. Like his teacher Lemmens and his
colleague Gigout, Guilmant sought a greater unity between
organ and choral music in the liturgy. In 1895 he explained:
"In the alternating pieces it is necessary for the organist
to play the Gregorian melody or, at least, versets based on
these themes. I think that there are very interesting things
to be written in the polyphonic style with these old tonalities
and on such beautiful chants as these. The German organists have
composed pieces based on the melodies of chorales, forming a
particularly rich organ literature; shouldn't we do likewise
with our Catholic melodies?"

Limited online book browsing at
http://books.google.com/books?id=d54n2z_oFmgC

Book for sale at
http://www.ohscatalog.org/ocororplayin1.html

Looking for Tenebrae Responsories in English

FKulash — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 15:36:26 +0000

Does anyone know of English language chant settings for the responsories at Tenebrae (e.g. "Tenebrae factae sunt" or "Sicut ovis")? That is, unison chants in more or less the same style as the Latin originals, not polyphony.

Does anyone recognise this chant?

Mathrafal — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:34:22 +0000

Hello folkets,

I am sending out a Hail Mary here. Louis Couperin (1626–1661) wrote a fugue on precisely the same theme as his slightly older colleage, Jean-Henry D'Anglebert. In D'Anglebert's publication of five fugues, which we believe were on a plainsong melody. Does anyone recognise the chant, by any chance. The background is that Couperin was organist at Saint-Gervais, Paris, after 1653, though I find nothing in the usual antiphoners and graduals of that period.

I hope someone might know.

Cheers!

Jon

Salve Festa Dies

thehymnselector — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:17:20 +0000

Somebody asked me where they can obtain the score for this hymn in preparation for Easter. I can't seem to find it in the Liber. Any ideas?

Chants for Ash Wednesday

AngelaR — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 14:41:10 +0000

New blog article, concerning the 3 chants for the imposition of ashes, as well as Parce Domine and Attende Domine. A blessed Lent to you all!

https://www.chantacademy.com/post/gregorian-chants-for-ash-wednesday

Gregorio GABC add text above notes?

probe — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 10:23:39 +0000

I want to add a line of text in the middle of a score as an explanatory note for the next section.
At PA(hr)ter
I have tried PA(hr[Alt:heading])ter
and PA(hr)[Alt:heading]ter
and PA(hrheading)ter

They all give me Latex errors. How can that be done, please?

Freeware Gregorian Chant Fonts

Palestrina — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:27:19 +0000

Does anybody know where I can find some freeware Gregorian Chant fonts?

Mystery Neume, O.P.

StPiusV — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:13:47 +0000

Hello Folks,

I'm curious if anybody can help me to identify this mystery neume, and more specifically how to notate it with gabc. I've seen it twice now in the 1933 Antiphonorium of the Order of Preachers. I've been retypesetting it and can't quite produce it. The note head, yes, but with the short stem, no. You can find it on "Lau" of "Laudate" on 5. Ant. You can also see it on the second attached file over "-ter" of "aeternum".

God bless, and thank you in advance.
Bobby

Seasonal Psalm Tones? - Lent, Easter

probe — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 10:52:55 +0000

Currently, about once every five weeks, I chant the Responsorial Psalm (which otherwise is simply read) and I find the Bévenot Tone 1 easy for English text. I am now wondering if the eight Gregorian psalm tones are applicable at any time, or are there some suited to penitential seasons like Advent and Lent, or joyful times like Easter? I remember from a previous discussion that one caution is that they are designed for Latin stress patterns and are hard to adapt to the random stresses of English. In particular, whichever I pick has to be easy enough to fashion a phrase for the Response to be heard by the (largely non-singing) congregation once or twice and then taken up in the response to the psalm verses.

Public domain / out of copyright images for chant ?

probe — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 15:17:03 +0000

I don't want to use the instantly recognisable 'AI' engines or copy from a CD cover - are there resources with free-to-use images related to Gregorian Chant? It's for a poster advertising a chant workshop.

Hybrid Notation & Illumination (please add constructive criticism)

francis — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 18:38:49 +0000

As a spin off from my Hybrid Notation (see on other threads on the forum) I am also creating digital illuminations. I did one of the Salve Regina a while back... it might be on this forum somewhere.

Here is an illumination (low Rez) of the Pater Noster using a Russian Icon as the background. If you zoom in you will see things you cannot see from viewing at 100%.

In JMJ,

FK

(file is updated, see below)

Reading Solesmes Using Pothier's Vatican Edition Rhythm

RomanticStrings — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 16:35:03 +0000

I have the Graduale Triplex and the Graduale Simplex. Learning more about the Vatican Edition, is it possible to sing the rhythm put forward by Dom Pothier using either of those publications? Or does the Solesmes edition, in addition to adding the rhythmic markings, change the spacing etc. of the chant? And does the LEV Simplex follow the Vatican Edition, or does such a thing even exist in the post-Vatican II publications?

Parish Book of Chant missing pages 311ff

probe — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 21:52:18 +0000

I was looking at the index for the PBC I bought earlier from Amazon UK and the last entry (Benediction) is page 320. But the book stops at 310 (Plainsong Rhythm). I'll contact Amazon and ask for a reprint.

Gregorio - Above line text styling

Ousier — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 16:14:47 +0000

Hello everyone !

I have this problem : I would like to pass those two letters "er" from "1er" (i.e "1st") into \superscript or with this trick : 1$^{\mbox{\footnotesize{er}}}$ Chœur, but my code will not compile.
I know I can use \grechangestyle{abovelinestext}{whatever}, but it will affect all the text...
I think it's simply not possible to add some LateX code (code) within the abovelinestext (), but I would like to have some confirmation of my fears !

Christmas proclamation (Octavo Kalendas Ianuarii) and Epiphany proclamation (Noveritis) in Latin

Cantus — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 23:09:55 +0000

Maybe it will be useful for someone.

Inv. Christus natus est + Venite : flatted ti or not?

DCM — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 02:15:03 +0000

LH1983: no flat in antiphon or psalm setting
AR2020: no flat in antiphon, flat in psalm (matching LR1895 and Liber Usualis)
NR project restitution: flat in both

As a matter of preference, the natural ti sounds right here (and I've been singing that way from the Liber Hymnarius for years). I've also noticed in the Nocturnale project's restitutions a strong preference for flatted ti in the fourth mode, which is baffling to me. But they're experts and I'm not.

Is the ARII (2009) worth purchasing given it doesn't follow the 2015 OCO exactly?

JeremyCains — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 08:22:02 +0000

1. Is it still properly legitimate and allowed to sing simply from the ARII, even when there are discrepancies with the current OCO?

2. How much do the ARII and 2015 OCO differ? How often is there a discrepancy?

In summary, is the 2009 Solesmes Antiphonale Romanum II still worth purchasing and using, given that it is already somewhat out-of-date with the selections in the 2015 Ordo Cantus Officii?

Hodie: Pronunciation of (arch)ANgeli ?

probe — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 10:05:06 +0000

We're preparing the Hodie Christus Natus Est for Christmas.

As written, and sung the downward inflection on the 'ge' of 'An-GE-e-li' and 'Arch-an-GE-e-li' makes it sound uncomfortably to my English-speaking ears as if we're singing about jelly.
Would it be a violation of a thousand years of practice to rephrase that as 'ca-a-nunt AN-ge-li' to put the stress on 'An'; and '-tur A-arch-AN-ge-li' similarly?
It's not specifically mentioned in the Gregorian Musical Values PDF.

Maybe I'm running into a question of Italianate Ecclesiastical Latin versus Classical Latin.