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Views from the Choir Loft

How Does One Use The Ordo Cantus Missæ?

Jeff Ostrowski · July 29, 2013

597 Gregorian Missal Gregorian Missal by Solesmes INALLY, HOW DOES ONE USE the pages of the Ordo Cantus Missæ? To repeat what has been said in the documents, the Ordo Cantus Missæ normally simply points to the official 1908 Graduale and says “take the chants from this Sunday.” For instance, in the sample page we’re about to examine, you can see that the “15th Sunday in Ordinary time” says, “Take the chants from the 10th Sunday after Pentecost”:

      * *  Example page from the Ordo Cantus Missae

But what about the “B” circled in pink and the “I” and “II” circled in green? What in the world do those mean? Steven Van Roode explains:

This is explained in the Praenotanda, n. 20 (p. 11) of the Ordo Cantus Missae. In the section ‘Proprium tempore’ the chants for each week are listed. Your scan is from this section. These chants are to be sung on Sunday and all weekdays, except for the days indicted by the indented characters at the end of the week’s list: letters A, B and C indicate that there are other chants for the Sunday of Year A, B or C (which are specified on pp. 62-64), and roman numerals indicate that there are other chants for weekdays in Year I or II, with the Arabic numerals indicating the weekday (2 = feria secunda = Monday, etc.); these are specified on pp. 65-74.

So, for the fifteenth week in Ordinary Time (n. 112) we have the chants of the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost from the 1961 Graduale Romanum:
      IN Dum clamarem
      GR Custodi me
      OF Ad te levavi
      AL Te decet hymnus

. . . except for the Communion:
      CO Passer invenit

. . . and ad libitum options:
      IN Ego autem cum iustitia
      CO Qui mandicat

So far, so good. Now we come to the “B” circled in pink. Apparently, there are other chants for Sunday of Year B (specified on p. 63):
      GR Ostende nobis

And there are other chants for Year I (Monday and Thursday) and Year II (Thursday) (specified on p. 70; note the arrangement of the data: left for Year I, right for Year II and centre for Year I ánd II):
      Year I (Monday): GR Anima nostra
      Year I and II (Thursday): AL Venite ad me

All these different chants match the readings of the Sunday or weekday and are duly given in the 1974 Graduale Romanum. I hope this explanation made clear how the OCM indicates alternative chants for Sundays and weekdays.

OK . . . SO WHAT?  What’s the lesson here?  What is my point, precisely?

My point should be obvious. The Ordo Cantus Missæ is incredibly difficult to use. It almost couldn’t be more confusing than it is. It is totally unhelpful.

The good news is that the hard work has been done for us already with the Solesmes 1974 Graduale, the Solesmes Gregorian Missal (2012), the Lalemant Propers, the Simple English Propers (CMAA), and many other collections. Therefore, you don’t have to fool around with the Ordo Cantus Missæ . . . which is probably why very few people own this book!

This article is part of a series:

Part 1   •   Part 2

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Ordo Cantus Missae Last Updated: October 12, 2022

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

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    A reader sent us an email which was both thoughtful and articulate. Feeling it deserved a response, I published this article a few days ago. I included the full letter sent to us by the reader, but that's not all. Indeed, the article became rather lengthy and touched upon a number of different themes. I hope you enjoy it!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
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    It's very brief, but I think you would enjoy hearing Benno Moiseiwitsch (d. 1963) tell this really cool story about Sergei Rachmaninoff (d. 1943). Moiseiwitsch, whose playing was admired by Josef Hofmann, had studied with Theodor Leschetizky (d. 1915). I opened my recent article by speaking of a powerful quote Rachmaninoff gave to Robert Croan, music critic for the Post Gazette and professor of voice at Duquesne University.
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Random Quote

The effectiveness of liturgy does not lie in experimenting with rites and altering them over and over, nor in a continuous reductionism, but solely in entering more deeply into the word of God and the mystery being celebrated. It is the presence of these two that authenticates the Church’s rites, not what some priest decides, indulging his own preferences.

— Liturgicae Instaurationes (1970)

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