OST PEOPLE would probably presume that the Ordinary of the Mass is more ancient than the Proprium Missae (“propers”), especially the Greek KYRIE. Such a mistake is understandable, but it’s still wrong. The Propers are the most ancient part of the Mass, and the Ordinary is rather late by comparison. Moreover, the addition of the CREDO is extremely late, and even to this day the Creed is said only on special feasts. In recognition of this fact, musical settings of the Creed are kept in a completely different location than the rest of the Kyriale.
If you examine the Campion Missal, you will see that both CREDO V and CREDO VI were included, even though not that many people sing them. The Saint Antoine Daniel website includes a marvelous setting called Credo VII, along with an organ accompaniment.
But this morning, I received a surprise in my inbox from a reader!
Versions of the CREDO I had never seen before:
* * PDF Download • Supplement to the Kyriale (1934)
The file appears to be one of the numerous “supplemental inserts” included at the back of the Solesmes books. Readers will recall me speaking of how fascinating some of these are, especially the ones added to the Reims-Cambrais edition of the Graduale.
One of the versions appears to be based upon CREDO I, which would be only natural since this was the sole version people sang for centuries:
Contained in that PDF are a whole bunch more versions of the Kyriale I have never seen before. We owe a debt of gratitude to whoever scanned this!
