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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “Liber Brevior” (1954)

Jeff Ostrowski · November 18, 2015

106 LIBER BREVIOR 1954 URING THE 1990S, my Schola Cantorum sang from the LIBER USUALIS of Solesmes. Each of us had a slightly different edition—meaning the page numbers seldom matched—but for some reason that never bothered us.

The print size of the Liber Usualis was minuscule, but I cannot recall experiencing difficulty reading it. Perhaps my eyesight was better 20 years ago. One day, our Pastor (ordained in the 1950s) showed up at Church with a book called the LIBER BREVIOR. He exclaimed, “Jeff, I bet you never knew that everything essential in the Liber Usualis could be printed in a much smaller book, eh?” He showed me the book, but I was used to the Liber Usualis and had no plans to jump ship.

I failed to realize that the final pages of the Liber Brevior contain a very special arrangement of all the Graduals, Alleluia verses, and Tracts:

    * *  PDF Download • Final Pages of the LIBER BREVIOR — 3.6MB

Almost ten years ago, Jeffrey Tucker scanned & uploaded the entire LIBER BREVIOR (1954) of Solesmes:

    * *  PDF Download • Complete LIBER BREVIOR (1954) — 29.4MB

The reductions found in the Liber Brevior are nice, but Solesmes produced an even nicer collection in the 1920s called CHANTS ABRÉGÉS, and Jeffrey Tucker scanned & uploaded this book about five years ago:

    * *  PDF Download • CHANTS ABRÉGÉS (1926) — 11.9MB

Without question, however, the supreme version of the CHANTS ABRÉGÉS was produced in 1955. Jeffrey Tucker also scanned & uploaded this book:

    * *  PDF Download • CHANTS ABRÉGÉS (1955) — 8.4MB

The publications produced by Solesmes during the 1950s are quite staggering, and give witness to the vibrancy of Gregorian singing in those days. We will have to forgive the rather silly warning appearing in the front of several of these books:

“All Rights Reserved on the rhythmic signs and the rhythm they represent…”

Much of “the rhythm they represent” is given by signs in the Editio Vaticana, which cannot be copyrighted. The whole point of the Vatican Edition (published by Pius X) was that no individual publisher could claim the rights to it. Nevertheless, Solesmes is not the first publisher to overstate their claims in an effort to sell books…

P.S.

Reducing the Graduals, Alleluia verses, and Tracts was quite common. For example, in the 1917 Graduale by Schwann, they mix “recto tono” with more ornate melodies—which will hopefully get the “feel” of the chant into one’s ear in spite of the simplification—as you can see in this example from Ash Wednesday:

105 Schwann 1917 GRADUALE


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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Chants Abreges 1926, Chants Abreges 1930 Solesmes, Chants Abreges 1955, Solesmes LIBER BREVIOR 1954 Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 19th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (10 August 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    This Sunday’s Communion Antiphon
    This coming Sunday—10 August 2025—is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). The COMMUNION ANTIPHON is really gorgeous, and two of its features are worth mentioning. First of all, the Gospel reading assigned is from Saint Luke, whereas the the antiphon—although it matches the account—comes from Saint Matthew. (If anyone can point to a similar example, please notify me.) Furthermore, if you look at the authentic Gregorian Chant version posted on the feasts website, you’ll notice that it’s MODE III but ends on the ‘wrong’ note. A comparable instance of such a ‘transposed’ chant would be KYRIE IV.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Using “Ye” Vs. “You” Correctly
    Using “Ye” vs. “You” is rather tricky, because it depends upon which era one is trying to recreate—if that makes any sense. In other words, the rules haven’t always been the same for these two. Nevertheless, Father Philip George Caraman (the legendary Jesuit scholar) gives us a masterclass using Saint Luke’s Gospel. Father Caraman was close friends with Monsignor Ronald Knox, Evelyn Waugh, and Sir Alec Guinness.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“Today the Church has made a big mistake, turning the clock back 500 years with guitars and popular songs. I don’t like it at all. Gregorian Chant is a vital and important tradition of the Church and to waste this—by having guys mix religious words with profane, Western songs—is hugely grave, hugely grave.”

— Maestro Ennio Morricone (10 Sept 2009)

Recent Posts

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  • “Music List” • 19th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • This Sunday’s Communion Antiphon
  • Using “Ye” Vs. “You” Correctly
  • Installment #3 • “Serious Problems with the Lectionary Translation”

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