Gregorian Missal Download
  • Here is the Gregorian Missal.

    It is made available courtesy of the Solesmes monastery.

    This is an inauspicious release of a massively significant thing. I don't have to tell you why it is significant. I'm posting here first so that you can get it and not pile on later when others hear that it is available. What I'm hoping to avoid is another server crash such as we had when the Grad Rom went online.

    So let's roll this out with some sense of discipline over the next week, shall we?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Here's another link to the same file -- but it uses caching to minimize the load on CMAA's server.

    (revised 1/20)
  • I don't know why I can't get that 2nd link to work
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    If your DNS server runs Windows, it might be at fault. Also, some DSL routers with built-in DNS software have similar problems.
  • Everyone does realize what this means? It is the first time in the postconcilar period that people have been able to look at (at zero cost) the music that is actually attached to the Mass in the liturgical ordering specified by the 1970 Missal. And it is a special advantage that it is in English.

    It's one thing to see an old Graduale for the old Mass; something else to see how this music is embedded in the new Mass.

    I do believe that this one link will have a huge effect.
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    I realize what it means! And I think it is absolutely splendid and amazing and wonderful.

    As a matter of fact (not kidding) I don't understand how we could have lived without this (serious).
  • Dan F.Dan F.
    Posts: 205
    I've got it! What an astounding resource! Much thanks, and God bless you!
  • WOW
    WOW
    The right music distributed in the right way.
    Does Solesmes have on online donation site?
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    This is wonderful! Thank you!!
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,183
    Having it online is quite a remarkable thing. I pray that Solesmes does figure out how to continue to receive proceeds.
    A tremendous gift.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Thank you! I have this as a hardback already, but now I can selectively print for schola. Many thanks!
  • Kevin, publishers are slowly figuring out that online and offline are mutually enhancing complements. This will increase sales. In a few years, this will be obvious to everyone.
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,183
    Will we see the 74 Graduale anytime soon. That would also be nice.
    Thanks again for the Missal online. It is a gracious gift.
  • I hope so. We are talking about an expanded project.
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    This is a game changer. Francis is right - all one needs to do is point and print! I say we do not visit a single parish without printing up a sample (with the address to find more) from this and handing it to the choir director. There is no longer ANY excuse not to do chant!!
  • rogue63
    Posts: 410
    What a great delight! I echo Mr. Page's question: is there an online donation option for Solesmes?
  • When the Copley Place mall was built next to Boston's Back Bay shopping district, it was said to be the last nail in the coffin of small-scale, locally-based retail shopping. It proved to be exactly the opposite: people who never previously shopped on Boston's Newbury Street came for Neiman Marcus and stayed for the local boutiques. Why wouldn't a Tiffany & Co. store replacing an expressway cloverleaf be a pleasant thing? Why wouldn't a crucial liturgical book further the cause and the material support of church music?
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Yes, we want to put our money where the neumes are! How do we donate?!
  • Jeffrey - any info on what's required, from a copyright standpoint, for using their English translation in other materials?
  • Allan DAllan D
    Posts: 43
    The timing of this release could not have been more perfect. We are just now putting together a schola to sing the Introit, Offertory, and Communion for the First Sunday of Lent. Our choir has used the Graduale Simplex before, but this is their first time with the real thing. Thank you, and please pray for us!
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 993
    Thank you, Solesmes and thank you, CMAA!
  • urli
    Posts: 35
    I'm sure if people went to Solesmes' website and got in contact with them, the monastery would be more than grateful to receive donations :)
  • The permissions for the English are a bit mucky. On propers etc. there is no problem in using them but it's a good to provide an attribution. The Mass is from ICEL so there are the usual issues there.
  • Pes
    Posts: 623
    The greatest thing about this is that it puts the 1970 Missal directly in touch with the liturgical ideal, right there in print, with easy to follow rubrics and facing translations. As Gavin said, there's no excuse not to do what the Second Vatican Council says to do: give sacred chant pride of place, make it easy for the congregation to participate, etc.

    If this Missal were in every pew in the country, the benefits would be incalculable.

    And of course, the challenge would be clear: teach!
  • This isn't really a pew missal is it? I mean, this is for the Schola. The PBC should be in the pew.
  • Pes
    Posts: 623
    Let's put it this way: I wouldn't complain. The PBC is definitely the ideal pew edition. What I'm thinking is that the Greg Missal, like the PBC, pulls everything together. With either one, you can see the coherence of the Mass and its tapestry-like elaboration over the course of the liturgical year. That impression is extremely powerful, whatever its source. That's what I'm referring to. It shows clearly how the commercialized, ad hoc approach is simply... bizarre.
  • I will never forget the first time I saw the Gregorian Missal. It was a revelation. A shock. A relief. Coherence arrived. I understood, probably for the first time. It put it all together for me.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Jeffrey, I had the same reaction. it was like putting on eyeglasses for the first time--you wish you"d known all this was there all along.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,933
    I think it is wonderful. I am going to try the download again today. Last night, Earthlink stopped in the middle of the download, then the musicasacra site was unreachable for several hours. I thought all the downloads had crashed another server somewhere.
  • I bet you are right. I am really uncertain as to how to handle this. A post on NLM will crash it for sure.
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    ....................I am really uncertain as to how to handle this. A post on NLM will crash it for sure............

    Post on NLM at, say, early early on a Saturday Morning
  • I could make it a really boring post.

    FYI: here is this thing you might find interesting. like that.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    By the way, can a few more users (in addition to Jeffrey) give some indication of whether the links I posted above are working for them?

    They're working fine for me, with two machines on different ISPs, but if most people don't have success using them, I should edit the posts above and take them out to avoid any difficulty.
  • Jeffrey's top link worked fine for me... but the second one (http://www.musicasacra.com.nyud.net/books/gregorianmissal-eng.pdf) not at all.
  • Both links worked well for me Tuesday afternoon, taking about 20 minutes on my Qwest DSL link.

    Thanks you for making this available.
  • priorstf
    Posts: 460
    I used Chonak's caching link and it worked fine. It took about 15 seconds to get going, but was then a very steady 100k/sec download. Thanks!
  • urli
    Posts: 35
    When I was at Solesmes I saw at least one lady using the Gregorian Missal in the pew. But then there isn't a French PBC...I don't think!
  • Put the message and the directions in Latin!
  • soli
    Posts: 95
    Thank you very much! What a treasure. May God bless you.
  • Ok, so here is my trick. I buried the link at the bottom of a long and boring post with the most boring headline in human history: English Propers in the Usus Antiquior?

    No one will read that!
  • I don't know... I found the entire article very interesting... definitely not boring enough to dissuade readers, Jeffrey :)
    That being said... I hope the server doesn't get overloaded! I've already downloaded an saved it, so I'll not be adding to the traffic... Thanks so much!
  • urli
    Posts: 35
    LOL, I love Mr. J Petty's comment about making a separate post with the Gregorian Missal link!!
  • Yeah, no way, man. That's a death wish.
  • How has the load on the server been so far? Just curious how much stress the forum members are placing on the system...
  • so far we are just fine. A slow roll out is working. We have no problem over the long term. It is the simultaneous connections that cause problems. Like 250 simultaneous hits will crash it, I think.
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Hmmm, vernacular propers in the EF? Most of the NLM commentariat will indeed miss that, they won't be able to see the link through all the red!
  • Has BitTorrent been considered to distribute these things?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Technically, BitTorrent (or any of the other compatible file-sharing programs) would work fine, but I'm guessing that most parish musicians aren't familiar with them.

    Besides, in many home networks, the user would have to configure a DSL/cable modem, a LAN router, or both to open up the necessary "ports" to make the download process work.
  • After a few days here, you should have no hesitation about massive promotion.

    We've already done this forum, MusicaSacra front page, the Gregorian list, and a buried post on NLM. We should soon be safe.
  • a1437053a1437053
    Posts: 198
    (Re: my earlier post on NLM.) Ah, I understand now.
  • JamJam
    Posts: 636
    I got it from Chonak's second link in less than a minute. Awesome. (I run Linux, btw. I seem to remember someone saying Windows might have trouble with that link.)

    These people who say that this makes everything make sense now, can y'all please explain this to me? I've only briefly looked through it. I just want to know what you guys mean when you say stuff like that.