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Views from the Choir Loft

Graduale Renovatum: New Resource Brings Chant Rhythm to Life

Keven Smith · September 14, 2020

AVE YOU BEEN frustrated in your search for a reliable approach to Gregorian chant rhythm? This topic has been the cause of much controversy. Some choir directors adhere to the rhythmic system developed by Dom Mocquereau about 110 years ago. In my experience, those little ictuses under certain notes are the most commonly asked-about marking among people who are new to Gregorian chant. In fact, just yesterday someone stopped me in my church parking lot between Masses to ask me what they mean. (How does one explain without mincing words?)

If you’re ambivalent about the Dom Mocquereau system, then you’ve probably delved into the marvelous Graduale Triplex, which provides semiological markings from the Laon and Saint-Gall manuscripts above and below the neumes from the Vatican Edition. You may have also read Dom Cardine’s landmark 1982 work, Gregorian Semiology. (I would probably have a Dom Cardine poster over my bed if such a thing existed—and if I weren’t married.)

Having the semiology—and in particular, the Laon neumes—at our disposal is a big help in determining the proper rhythm of a particular chant. But there’s a translation that takes place on the fly; a singer must keep one eye on the square notes and another on the “chicken scratch.”

Hoping to overcome this challenge, many choir directors (including me) have taken to editing the propers using such handy resources as the Illuminare Score Editor and Gregobase. Still, the questions about rhythm abound: “Are we taking time on that last note before the descent?” “Should those next two notes be a little lighter, or are they equal to the others?” The central problem is that the commonly accepted system of chant neumes doesn’t allow for fine distinctions of rhythm. We can use horizontal episemas (lines) or dots to indicate the lengthening of notes. We can remind our singers that these signs aren’t meant to double the notes, but rather to indicate only a slight lengthening. Nevertheless, rhythm often remains a tug-of-war.

That’s why I’m excited to announce a new resource for chant propers: Gradule Renovatum, developed by my good friend Royce Nickel.

Meet the Man Behind Graduale Renovatum

If you’ve dug into the many resources Corpus Christi Watershed has to offer, Royce Nickel’s name will ring a bell. He has composed beautiful yet accessible settings of the Responsorial Psalms and Gospel Acclamations for the Ordinary Form. Royce described his approach to this project in a 2013 guest article.

I’ve had the privilege of calling Royce my friend for about nine years. He joined the St. Blaise Schola Cantorum in Fresno, California while I was still the director. As I prepared to move to Sacramento in 2014, Royce graciously agreed to take the reins. He has since brought the schola to a new level of artistry. Meanwhile, the Fresno Latin Mass community is now Holy Cross Chaplaincy, administered by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. How fitting, then, that I should be writing this article on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (which, by the way, is a felicitous mixture of two of my favorite liturgies: Holy Thursday and Good Friday). Happy feast day to Royce and his Fresno colleagues!

Capturing the Rhythmic Nuances of Gregorian Chant

Over the years, various chant scholars have issued reformed manuscripts that corrected wrong notes in the Vatican Edition and perhaps attempted to clarify Gregorian rhythm. What’s different about Graduale Renovatum is that the manuscripts indicate rhythm by repurposing two existing elements of chant notation:

  • Note shapes. You’ll still see virgas, punctums, and diamond-shaped notes, but now they have a specific rhythmic significance. You’ll also see a few signs that don’t appear in the Vatican Edition but do show up in more recent scholarly editions such as Graduale Novum.
  • Note spacing. The amount of space between notes indicates their relative rhythmic value and function.

For an in-depth description of the rationale behind Graduale Renovatum, I highly recommend you read Royce’s essay, Reformed Chant Notation: An Introduction to Method and Rationale.

But why go to all this effort? Royce explains at length in his essay. To me, this sentence sums it up:

The singer needs to be able to see in the notation which note or notes bear the weight of the syllable and represent the melody’s underlying structure and which of the notes are an ornamentation of that structure. 

Royce is generously posting the manuscripts of Graduale Renovatum online for free download. Many (including those for the next several Sundays) are already available—so check out Gradule Renovatum now. I’m looking forward to bringing these propers to my choir and will share the results in a future article.

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

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Gregorian Chant Last Updated: September 15, 2020

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About Keven Smith

Keven Smith, music director at St. Stephen the First Martyr, lives in Sacramento with his wife and five musical children.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Hymn by Cardinal Newman
    During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world's experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. Father Louis Bouyer—famous theologian, close friend of Pope Paul VI, and architect of post-conciliar reforms—wrote thus vis-à-vis the elimination of Septuagesima: “I prefer to say nothing, or very little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed (with no good reason) Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost and who scattered three quarters of the Saints higgledy-piddledy, all based on notions of their own devising!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The first tasks of the new pope will be to restore normality, restore doctrinal clarity in faith and morals, restore a proper respect for the law and ensure that the first criterion for the nomination of bishops is acceptance of the apostolic tradition. Theological expertise and learning are an advantage, not a hinderance for all bishops and especially archbishops.”

— Cardinal Pell (2022) about the pope who will succeed Francis

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