• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • Ordinary Form Feasts (Sainte-Marie)
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “Clap Your Hands!” (10 Mar 2023)

Patrick Williams · March 10, 2023

Gregorian Rhythm Wars contains all previous installments of our series.
Please refer to our Chant Glossary for definitions of unfamiliar terms.

HE RECENT EXCHANGE WITH MATTHEW FREDERES proved to be a bit of a diversion from the Rhythm Wars topic. Instead of expending more time and energy debating the merits of melodic variants or hundred-year-old letters from cardinals, I would like to return to the subject of rhythm. In last month’s article, I deliberately chose an exceptional chant. Today I would like to examine a short introit with no melodic changes in the Graduale Novum.

1908 Graduale Romanum

2011 Graduale Novum

In the Graduale Novum, besides the addition of the adiastematic neumes, there are only three differences from the Vatican edition: the removal of the star marking the end of the intonation, the substitution of a quarter bar line for the half bar line, and the connected form of the penultimate neume. Here is a transcription in modern notation, followed by commentary:

  1. unlike in previous examples in this series, I have used staccato dots to emphasize that the repeated notes should be rearticulated and not tied together
  2. long + grace + long (pes initio debilis) corresponds to the combined evidence of L (the neumes of Laon 239, written above the staff) and E (Einsiedeln 121, written below the staff); L could be sung literally as long + two shorts, and E as two shorts + long; three shorts here is out of the question
  3. the porrectus here terminates with a cephalicus, which indicates augmentative liquescence; the voiced consonant is given half the note value
  4. ditto
  5. the oriscus in E warns that the following note is not in unison
  6. L notates a weak beginning note (torculus initio debilis) here; the first note is absent in a number of early sources, which supports the ornamental interpretation as a grace note
  7. the Beneventan manuscripts write the last three notes as a torculus
  8. half bar line in the Vatican edition
  9. the combination of t and st in E is odd; Stingl thinks the t applies to the last note of the tristropha and the st to the following note
  10. the oriscus here (and elsewhere) might indicate an ornament
  11. pes + torculus in the Vatican edition; the connected (cursive) form used in the Novum agrees with the adiastematic neumes

Here is an attempt at an Urtext edition:

and a performing edition in Gregorian notation:

I’m Waiting… • With nearly all of my previous questions remaining unanswered almost three months later, I challenge contributors and readers alike to demonstrate how either the nuanced Solesmes rhythm or the equalist pure Vatican edition rhythm for this chant could possibly agree with the Messine neumes of L (Laon 239) or the St. Gall neumes of E (Einsiedeln 121). Do we have an older source for this chant than L? (And if so, what does it show?) Do the late medieval manuscripts faithfully reproduce the rhythm of L? If not, then regarding rhythm, how can they be considered reliable, let alone authoritative? With these questions unanswered by those objecting to the inclusion and observance of rhythmic markings based on the oldest extant sources, it is difficult to take their arguments seriously.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Gregorian Rhythm Wars Last Updated: March 12, 2023

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —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

Tournemire could be charming or he could bite your head off. One day I could not replace him at St. Clotilde because I had a wedding to play at another church. Tournemire played on Sunday, period—that was all. He did not play weddings and so forth. (He put all that on my back.) So I went to Tournemire’s house to tell him, “Master, I am sorry but, for once, I cannot replace you. I have another obligation to fulfill.” He said, “Get out of here!” I left for good.

— Testimony of Maurice Duruflé

Recent Posts

  • “How to Conduct 90 Vespers Services Each Year and Live to Tell the Tale.”
  • 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • The Tallis Scholars
  • Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
  • Pope Saint Paul VI to Consilium (14 October 1968)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

The election of Pope Leo XIV has been exciting, and we’re filled with hope for our apostolate’s future!

But we’re under pressure to transfer our website to a “subscription model.”

We don’t want to do that. We believe our website should remain free to all.

Our president has written the following letter:

President’s Message (dated 30 May 2025)

Are you able to support us?

clock.png

Time's up