Parish Book of Chant
– Second Edition

Use: Liturgical Year
Edition: Hardcover
Published by: The Church Music Association of America

A truly handsome and valuable volume, the second edition of The Parish Book of Chant, edited and typeset by Richard Rice and published by CMAA, is now available from CanticaNOVA Publications. This book is a must for anyone who aspires to sing chant in the "average" Catholic parish. It's not intended for the Schola to sing the Propers — that would be the Graduale Romanum or Gregorian Missal. This is a compilation for the bookshelf of every choir director, for the choir loft of almost any church, and for the pew racks of the ambitious parish.

The chant is in Gregorian notation (square note neums on four lines), but that should not be a hindrance. These chants, unlike some of the fancier chants of the Graduale Romanum or Gregorian Missal, are not melismatic (many notes per syllable). A basic understanding of the notation can be learned from the self-contatined tutorial, or from quality guides and textbooks, like A Plain and Easy Introduction to Gregorian Chant, by Dr. Susan Treacy.

The publisher writes:

The Parish Book of Chant – Second Edition contains a complete order of Mass for both the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite and the Extraordinary Form, in side-by-side Latin and English. The Ordos include the sung responses of the people and celebrant. In this respect, it serves as an ideal resource for parishes that use both forms or simply hope to emphasize the relationship between them. This edition is dramatically improved over the first edition, with expanded Kyriale, sequences, litanies, communion propers, full chant hymn verses, ribbons, tutorial, and the fully and updated ordo to the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Mass. It is a marvelous production, essential for every schola because it includes all the basic chant repertoire.

Contents (350 pages):

• A complete Order of Mass in the Ordinary Form, with music
• A complete Order of Mass in the Extraordinary Form, with music
• A complete Kyriale:
  • Mass I [Lux et origo] for Eastertide
  • Mass II [Kyrie fons bonitatis] for Solemn Feasts
  • Mass III [Kyrie Deus sempiterne] for Feasts
  • Mass IV [Cunctipotens Genitor Deus]
  • Mass V [Kyrie magnæ Deus potentiæ]
  • Mass VI [Kyrie Rex Genitor]
  • Mass VII [Kyrie Rex splendens]
  • Mass VIII [De Angelis]
  • Mass IX [Cum jubilo] for Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  • Mass X [Alme Pater] for Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  • Mass XI [Orbis factor]
  • Mass XII [Pater cuncta]
  • Mass XIII [Stelliferi Conditor orbis]
  • Mass XIV [Jesu Redemptor]
  • Mass XV [Dominator Deus]
  • Mass XVI for Weekdays throughout the Year
  • Mass XVII for Sundays of Advent and Lent
  • Mass XVIII [Deus Genitor] for Weekdays of Advent and Lent
  • Credo I, Credo II, Credo III, Credo IV, Credo V, Credo VI
  • 11 separate Kyrie settings
  • 4 separate Gloria settings
  • 3 separate Sanctus settings
  • 4 separate Agnus Dei settings
  • 2 extra settings of the Pater noster
  • 6 Alleluis settings
• Sequences for Easter, Pentecost, Corpus Christi
• A complete Funeral Mass, from Subveni te and Introit through Ego sum resurrectio at the graveside
• Communion Antiphons
• General Hymns and Chants [30 chants]
• Marian Hymns and Chants [19]
• Seasonal Hymns and Chants
  • Advent [4]
  • Christmas [7]
  • Epiphany [1]
  • Candlemas (Presentation – February 2) [1]
  • Lent [4]
  • Palm Sunday [4]
  • Holy Thursday [1]
  • Good Friday [6]
  • Easter [8]
  • Sacred Heart [1]
• Gospel Canticles [Benedictus, Magnificat, Nunc dimittis]
• Litany of the Saints
• Guide to Singing Chant:
  1. Notes and Groups of Notes
  2. Staff and Clef Signs
  3. Rhythmic Markings and Expressed Notes
  4. Barlines
  5. Plainsong Rhythm
  6. Repercussions
  7. Modal Melodies
  8. Table of Neums
• Latin Pronunciation Guide
• Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

From the publisher:

These features were chosen with the parish experience in mind. There is no existing resource that combines them into a single volume: the Mass, the people’s music, tutorial, and translations. Again, this is not a reprint but a newly created book that offers the core of the people’s Gregorian music. This beautiful hard-bound book could be the most valuable resource yet produced to help Gregorian chant assume its "pride of place" in Catholic liturgy.