CURRENTLY DIRECT approximately 62 choral singers, and we often sing pieces from a nifty little booklet: the Père Daniel Kyriale (126 pages). Through the centuries—in spite of variants, which will always exist—there is a remarkable stability of the KYRIALE. I like to show my choral singers pictures of Gregorian manuscripts, and they enjoy seeing whether they can sing directly from such manuscripts, which are astounding in their beauty.
An excellent source of such items is RAPHAEL (an Italian website), which is teeming with examples from different centuries and different locations:
* * Link 1 • “manuscripts” (RAPHAEL)
* * Link 2 • “editions” (RAPHAEL)
The creators of the website were attempting to put forth an explanation for how parts of the KYRIALE might have been sung “mensurally” (with longs and shorts). Based on the evidence I have seen, there is no question that some of these manuscripts would have been sung that way—although exactly where, when, and how remain subjects which are far from settled. 1
Here are some examples:
If your singers need to practice Gregorian chant from videos and Mp3 files, send them to the Saint Antoine Daniel Website.
NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:
1 In terms of some of the speculation the creators indulge in regarding these theories, readers will have to decide for themselves which assumptions make sense.
