Muscial Memories: Gregorian Chant

As the story, A Year and a Day, points out, our daily life revolved around the prayers together as a community assembled in the choir (sometimes referred to as the quire. in old-English church architecture).

For more than 55 years, this plainsong of Gregorian chant has haunted me. That's a good thing. I can hear the echoes of that music all these years later.

I have assembled 154 short video pieces. Some of the popular videos are listed on the right. Thanks to the Internet and Church Music Association of America, there now exists a copy of a book, the Liber Usualis (1961)¹, and the Liber Brevoir⁴ for anyone to read. Both the Missale Romanum (1961)² and the Kyriale Romanum (2001)⁵ are available as well. For those of you who want to practice your Latin, there is the Graduale Romanum Sacrosantæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ³. The footnotes below this text will take you to the download location for each.

This was our musical bible. It told us how to sing, what to sing, and when to sing. Its 2,340+ pages are replete with plainsong chant for any occasion in the liturgical year. There is a great source of memories within this music. Listen to some of them and the music will evoke those memories. Enjoy.

There are two renditions, one for the videophile and one for the audiophile. Links to both are shown at the top of the scroll bar on the right. The video page and the audio page both list the same 154 sources and each title is accessible as either an .mp4 file (video) or an .mp3 file (audio). When you click on the title, a blank page appears with the title's audio or video. To return to the previous page, merely click on your browser's Back button or arrow.

You are free to download any of these files using the three dots on the right-hand side of the image, at the bottom. (See following figure)

1. Liber Usualis. 1961.Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. Liber Usualis. Sancta Missa. [Online, PDF Download, 2,340 pages, 118 Mb.]

2. Missale Romanum. 1961. Richmond, Virginia: Church Music Association of America. 2nd Ed.. [Online, PDF Download, 1,080 pages, 81 Mb.]

3. Graduale Romanum Sacrosantæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ. 2007. Richmond, Virginia: Church Music Association of America. (Extracted from Graduale Romanum) [Online, PDF Dowload, 162 pages, 4 Mb.]

4. Liber Brevoir. 1954. New York: Desclee Co, Inc., (Tournai, Begium). Gregorian Institute of America. [Online, PDF Download, 800 pages, 28 Mb.]

5. Kyriale e Graduali Sacrosantæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Desumptum. 2001. Bonnæ ad Rhenum: Bund für Liturgie und Gregorianis. Ed. Gerolitus Ammosaulicus. [Online, PDF Download, 75 pages, 380 Kb.]

If you are using a Smartphone or iPad, you may difficulty viewing these pieces for reason of copyright blocking.