Is the ARII (2009) worth purchasing given it doesn't follow the 2015 OCO exactly?
  • JeremyCains
    Posts: 2
    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is the 2009 Solesmes Antiphonale Romanum II still worth purchasing and using, given that it is already somewhat out-of-date with the selections in the 2015 Ordo Cantus Officii?
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,281
    I think that there’s just no really good answer for not using the book and accounting for its selections if you’re going to delay publishing a revised list of antiphons. The Holy See can say that it’s a private edition, but the 1912 is so far removed from the NO, and now we are supposed to use the Nova Vulgata (blech) that it’s impossible to used. Frankly I would use (the AR2009) without trying to get it right.
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  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 1,094
    Welcome to the forum, Jeremy! Sure, feel free to use the Antiphonale Romanum II, even if it at times deviates from the 2015 Ordo cantus officii.

    I didn’t look into the differences accurately, but from cursory comparisons, I know that there are a few. You could otherwise use Antiphonæ & Responsoria from Alberto Turco, although these publications are not very user-friendly (but they do follow the 2015 OCO).

    I have no idea why the 1912 Antiphonale Romanum did come up in the discussion…
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  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,281
    Because the Vatican’s official position is that the original books are the official chant books except when chants are taken from elsewhere. This is certainly the case for the Mass.

    In other words, it’s not that AR2009 deviates from the OCO. It’s that the OCO does having come later, and that’s just patently stupid, since the Vatican isn’t putting out its own new edition of the chant; the official edition remains the Vatican Edition (and even then; the Vatican Basilica uses dots and episemas…)
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • JeremyCains
    Posts: 2
    Thank you both for your answers. I am glad to know that I can still use it.
  • DCM
    Posts: 90
    Yes it's worth purchasing. I bit the bullet and bought it and AR I when they were on sale a few months ago. It's simpler just having the books on hand instead of my old practice of assembling a DIY office through online resources. I can get through an office with just the book and Universalis on my phone for the parts I need to do in English.

    The major discrepancy (there may be smaller ones I haven't noticed) is the Magnificat antiphons for 1st vespers of Sundays of Ordinary Time. The OCO 2015, anticipated by OCO 1983 & the reformed monastic antiphonary, prescribes, in that place, antiphons from the Old Testament, keyed to the Office of Readings/Vigils lectionary. The AR II instead swaps in the gospel antiphons from Lauds, presumably a pastoral concession for celebrations where vespers would be the only public office. The OCO, I'm told, accounts for this discrepancy.

    The AR II cursus is licit and not deprecated, and simpler to use if you're not doing every office on Sundays or the Office of Readings seldom or never.

    If you do do the Office of Readings, you might find it fruitful to use the corresponding 1st vespers anitphons (and if you don't, don't worry about it). I've attached the scannned pages of them from AM 2005.
    Antiphonale Monasticum 2005--1 and 2-year cycle at 1st vespers.pdf
    3M
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