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HEN I wrote last week about Fr. Samuel Weber’s new publication, it was not my purpose to give a thorough review of the book. Nor do I plan to do so today. But I will share one criticism and a bit of good news.
As I wrote last week, this volume has made the singing of Mass propers in English accessible like never before. The Proper of the Mass is simply unprecedented. With the four different versions supplied for virtually every chant, Fr. Weber has made proper chants a viable option for nearly every choir in nearly every parish.
I am grateful that the book is printed in chant notation, since it is so much more precise than modern notation. (Also, I can’t say enough good things about the brief introduction to chanting offered at the outset of the book—a truly excellent summary!) But the unfortunate consequence of using chant notation is that most organists are not proficient in accompanying from it. Thus, the only criticism I would dare to offer is that this work lacks an organ accompaniment edition.
The bit of good news is that Fr. Weber is already working on the organ accompaniment at this time. The accompaniment version, I believe, will extend the book’s accessibility even further. Once it is completed, it will be almost untenable for a parish priest or music director to claim that singing the propers is beyond reach.
