Simplified Graduale for the 1962 Missal
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    Here is a wonderful creation by Richard Rice. He has simplified the major propers between the readings, making them easier to sing while retaining crucial features of the authentic chants, such as the jubilus in the Alleluia.

    He has arranged it for the 1962 Missal. On first glance, the chants seem closer to the authentic chant than Chants Abreges and is a long way from Rossini, but not as difficult as the authentic chants. It is really quite stunning, and unexpected.

    Download here.
  • gregpgregp
    Posts: 632
    That is tremendous!
  • Anhaga
    Posts: 55
    Thank you for posting this. It seems the Rice Propers are another great step towards the Graduale Romanum. I made some copies of Palm Sunday gradual and tract for chant practice tonight.
  • priorstf
    Posts: 460
    Okay - a formatting question. For the past half century or so, every choir I've worked with has used 3-ring binders of some sort. But so very many great chant resources, such as this one, are published in a landscape format. I suspect that the composers must all be recovering organists accustomed to end-bound binders on their infernal machines, but for us to use them in the choir we will need much wider seats for our singers. (There are other reasons we need much wider seats, but that's a different story!)

    Is there a reason we can't just set 8.5x11 (or A4) portrait as the standard?
  • priorstf
    Posts: 460
    (Deleted - double posting)
  • Palestrina
    Posts: 422
    Thank you for an excellent resource for parishes. The 'Christus Factus Est' of Holy Thursday is a particularly useful (and dare I say 'pastoral') edition of those cantors who don't have the range that the edition in the Graduale demands.

    I've been thinking about this problem of some of the chants of the Graduale being too complex for beginners, and had a thought... Somebody told me that the chants of the Cistercian Graduale are quite austere. Does anybody have a copy of the Cistercian Graduale that could confirm or deny this? I haven't seen the Cistercian Missal, but if it's anything like the other religious variants on the Roman Rite, the proper texts should largely follow those of the Roman Rite.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    And here it is in portrait
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    pretty incredible
  • priorstf
    Posts: 460
    Thanks very much for that, Jeffrey. Brilliant AND usable is tough to beat!
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    Thank Richard! I'm just the uploading guy.
  • Protasius
    Posts: 468
    Has someone already prepared simplified major propers for Easter Monday (Haec dies, V. Dicat nunc Israel; Alleluia. Angelus Domini)? Its a feast day in many countries of Europe and at least in Germany it is a holyday of obligation.
  • Protasius
    Posts: 468
    Since nobody answered, I tried to do the simplification myself. In case they are of use to someone else, I attach the GABC files here.
    gr_haec_dies_v_dicat_nunc.gabc
    792B
    al_angelus__descendit.gabc
    578B
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