1. What is the best software to re-typeset the gregorian chant with? Any suggestions? Is there a musical plug in for indesign?
2. I am not a rubrics expert. Are there any changes that should be added to the Liber?
3. What are some changes and edits that should be made to a new Liber Usualis? That you would like to see?
Well this is a minefield, do you want to follow old Solesmes, really old Solesmes, Solesmes, or the latest scholarship? At least with modern typesetting on computer you should be able to keep up with the academics, through numerous updated editions.4. The chironomy & directions
5. Is this a worthwhile effort? or are the scanned versions of the Liber good enough?
6. I really like the old "turn of the century" Feel of the Liber. I bet that the 1960s liber used the old plates and type settings from the early 1900 editions.
Yes, we are in agreement.The work of Pothier and Mocquereau brought us scholarship astonishing for its time. The monastery, under their leadership, accomplished an astounding amount of beautiful and careful work.
But I did not say that! His work as a whole I admire, but I stand by my remark about his "discredited nuance and ictus placement theories." Although they reject the ictus placement theory, semiologists continue to adhere to the nuance theory, which contradicts every medieval writer on the subject (see Vollaerts or Murray for the pertinent quotations). There are kinder ways to disagree with someone than to misquote. If you are more interested in late Romantic performance practice than medieval performance practice, that is your right, but we already have plenty of decent performing editions at our disposal for the Solesmes method.For you to say that Mocquereau’s work is “discredited” is very unkind.
How do you characterize the turn of the last century in terms of stylistic period?
1. What is the best software to re-typeset the gregorian chant with? Any suggestions? Is there a musical plug in for indesign?
5. Is this a worthwhile effort? or are the scanned versions of the Liber good enough?
6. I really like the old "turn of the century" Feel of the Liber. What are your thoughts?
The best for me is Gregorio. It produces great looking scores, that can be manipulated later on in for example Illustrator. There's no need for a plugin for InDesign; you can just place the pdf of the scores directly in your document.
6. I really like the old "turn of the century" Feel of the Liber. I bet that the 1960s liber used the old plates and type settings from the early 1900 editions. That being said, would it be sacrilegious to modernize the typeset a bit? I do not know where to find that old font.
[Mocquereau] is the figure who came the closest to advocating recovery of the original melodies as accurately as possible. His rhythmic theories have fallen into disrepute in recent decades, and it is now acknowledged that he imposed theories (and rhythmic signs) onto the chant without justification from the earliest manuscripts. But his motivation was historical: he apparently believed that his theories were historically based. (Sacred Music and Liturgical Reform, p. 128)
Which has literally been a part of performance practice since the Renaissance. You might as well say that the theory is Baroque in character.Schönbergian, I would consider Mocquereau's nuanced lengthenings a kind of rubato.
"Phrasing without a breath" has nothing to do with Romanticism, either. I could make the case that that kind of varied and nuanced approach to phrasing is actually steeped in Classical-era performance practice, and it would have just as much validity. Both are unhelpful though, and the theory needs to be treated in its own right - to do otherwise is akin to dismissing all concepts of historically informed performance under the notion that they were developed under the aegis of post-modern thought, and are therefore specific to that era only.The Solesmes "Rules for Interpretation" admit outright that the recommendation of tying repeated notes together is a departure from historic performance practice. In my opinion, it requires no stretch of the imagination to say that carrying over at quarter bars, or phrasing without a breath, also represents a late Romantic aesthetic.
Nor with Medievalism. Mocquereau was not a Baroque- or Classical-era figure. What is your point?"Phrasing without a breath" has nothing to do with Romanticism, either.
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