Liturgy of the Hours - Latin and Music
  • sunkid77
    Posts: 2
    Hello,

    Where can I purchase the music for all chants (in Latin) for the post-Vatican II Liturgy of the Hours--including the 4-week psalter? I cannot stand the dreadful current ICEL translation and the hideous English therein, and so I'm ditching English for the Office. As a layman, I have been doing the pre-Vatican II secular Office (weekly psalter) in Latin. However, this puts me out of sync with the current lectionary and sanctoral of the Church. I know that Solesmes publishes numerous chant works; however, most of this material is for the monastic office, which entails a weekly psalter--and is not the Liturgy of the Hours in use in secular circles.

    Does anyone know where I might find such music?

    Thanks,
    -Stephen Gagnon
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    It hasn't been published yet!

    IIRC, Solesmes has published only one book for the non-monastic office: "Antiphonale Romanum II", which contains the music for Sunday Vespers. I suppose the Liber Hymnarius might be useful too.

  • igneusigneus
    Posts: 390
    The complete official Roman post-Vatican-II antiphonal isnt't ready yet.

    So you have these options:
    * official, but far from complete http://www.solesmes.com/GB/editions/livres.php?cmY9MTMx
    * unofficial, but complete http://www.ctestmartin.fr/index.php/fr/publications/les-heures-gregoriennes.html
    * unofficial, but strictly following the rules (Ordo cantus officii), free, possibly going to be complete (not soon, though) http://www.transitofvenus.nl/LiturgiaHorarum/‎
  • sunkid77
    Posts: 2
    Thank you all for the information. The links are very helpful. The French Les Heures Gregoriennes looks very intriguing since it's a complete version of the current Liturgy of the Hours in Latin with Gregorian notation (I already have the AR from Solesmes). I'm going ahead and ordering this set.
    Igneus, do you know if the Lectionary of Les Heures Gregoriennes is pretty much our own Lectionary in the English speaking world?
  • igneusigneus
    Posts: 390
    No idea, I don't own the "Heures" - they are quite expansive and unofficial. If I am ever going to pay such a fortune for an antiphonal, then for the official full new Antiphonale Romanum. (Being in my twenties now I'm not quite sure if this will leave the print before me leaving this world, though :) )
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 998
    I do own Les heures gregoriènnes and can tell you that it doesn't follow the Ordo cantus officii entirely. Sometimes for different offices of a single day the same antiphons are used, for example. Also, the Invitatorium and Officum lectionis are missing. Still, though, it's a wonderful resource.
  • igneusigneus
    Posts: 390
    So, if I understand you well, the answer to sunkid77's question

    "do you know if the Lectionary of Les Heures Gregoriennes is pretty much our own Lectionary in the English speaking world?"

    is, that the Les Heures Gregoriennes contain no lectionary at all (as they do not contain the hour of reading) and breviary is still needed if the full office is to be celebrated.
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 998
    Indeed.
  • wjcb112
    Posts: 20
    I have used the Heures Gregoriennes every day for around 2 years, and it works very well for me. It is very easy to use, and designed so that any one day is entirely in the same volume, with minimised page-flipping.

    Disadvantages are (a) Price - I think Eur240; (b) Twin language Latin/French only (apparently no English version planned as there are too many English translations at present); (c) Three heavy volumes (around 2000 pages each - you will need a book rest); (d) Psalms are not pointed to show where to change note, and (e) Sanctorale oriented towards French/Canadian calendars.

    Key advantage though is it exists and is in print, contains full Gregorian Chant following the standard 4 week psalter, (but no Office of Readings) and it is bound in sturdy editions. Mine have shown no discernable wear after 2 years' daily use.
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    For the time being I would recommend simply allocating psalm tones and using the same tones for the antiphons. It's what the cathedral in my diocese does and I have followed suit. It works well enough.
  • wjcb112
    Posts: 20
    If people are still looking for chant resources for the Daily Offices, the following are also useful:

    Dominican Chant - downloadable free in 6 large files. Antiphonarium pro Liturgia Horarum. Manageable when printed out with 4 small pages on each side of the paper. Includes Office of Readings:

    http://dominican-liturgy.blogspot.co.uk/ see the menu at the left hand side.

    Gregorian Chant - Liturgia Horarum - Sundays and feasts only. A series of small booklets.

    http://www.transitofvenus.nl/LiturgiaHorarum/
  • Marcello
    Posts: 1
    Consult the site "calithes.it", where every week the antiphons for first and second vespers of the next Sunday (or solennity) are published, with a more up to date choice of antiphons than the Ordo Cantus Officii and a better melodic version (restored form the manuscripts) than the Solesmes books. There also the text of psalms and antiphons, wih bold and italic for singing them; and information about how to get the wonderful book "Laus Divina", which covers the entire office, giving the texts of all the antiphons with their biblical and musical sources.
    Thanked by 1smvanroode
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    Welcome to the forum, Marcello. Thanks for posting about these projects!
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 998
    It's a pity that calithes.it only provides the chants for next Sunday and doesn't give the opportunity to choose for another liturgy.
    The Laus Divina, however, is a wonderful resource, with full biblical and musical indexes. These have helped me many times!
  • jsigur
    Posts: 12
    Does anyone have the calithes.it PDF for any of the Sundays between the 3rd and 6th Sundays of Easter? I'm look for the antiphon "Maria noli iam flere," the second antiphon of the Office of Readings from the Octave to the Ascension.

    Thanks
  • OraLabora
    Posts: 218
    From what I can gather, there is no known melody for this antiphon.

    http://cantus.uwaterloo.ca/chant/490162

    For Sundays of Eastertide, I simply use the Alleluia antiphon in Ordo Cantus Officii.
  • joerg
    Posts: 137
    "Maria noli iam flere" is CAO3703. The melody is on folio 144v of the Saint Denis Antiphoner
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen eft94530 Olivier
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Excellent sleuthing, joerg!!
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