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Chant texts and cantus firmi

This guide provides access and information on melodies and texts of Gregorian chants for those involved in the study and performance of these works.

Collections and lists of various liturgical genres: Introduction

Includes polyphonic settings of chant texts and melodies (other than the Mass Ordinary)

Vespers hymns

  • Stäblein, Bruno, ed. Hymnen I. Monumenta Monodica Medii Aevi, vol. 1. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1956. M2 M48193.

    • Texts and melodies

Lists of polyphonic music for vespers

  • Ward, Tom R. The Polyphonic Office Hymn, 1400-1520: A Descriptive Catalogue.  Renaissance Manuscript Studies 3. AIM. Neuhausen-Stuttgart: Hänssler-Verlag, 1980. ML 169.8 R46 no. 3

    • Descriptive catalogue of the polyphonic office hymn from the early Renaissance
    • All included settings are texts used in an Office as a hymn

  • Kirsch, Winfried. Die Quellen der mehrstimmigen Magnificat-und Te Deum-Vertongen bis zur Mitte des 16. Jahrhundert. Tutzig: Schneider, 1966. ML128 M3 K6

    • Texts and melodies
    • Includes chronological and alphabetical source directories and thematic catalogues

Mass Propers

  • Spilsted, Gary Richard. "The Paleography and Musical Repertory of Codex Tridentinus 93."  PhD diss., Harvard University, 1982.  Appendix II, pp. 258-85: "A Catalogue of Polyphonic Introits (ca. 1400-ca. 1474)."  ML93 S75 1982a

    • Analysis of structure and contents of the manuscript
    • Alphabetical index of text incipits
    • Has an inventory
    • Contains a catalogue of polyphonic introits

  • Schlager, Karlheinz, ed. Alleluia-MelodienMonumenta Monodica Medii Aevi, vols. 7-8. Kassel; New York: Bärenreiter, 1968-1987. M2 M48193 Bd. 7-8

    • Texts and melodies
    • Extensive repertory of Mass Proper Alleluias.
    • Two volumes are organized as pre-1100 and post-1100

  • Dangel-Hoffmann, Frohmut. Der Mehrstimmige Introitus in Quellen des 15. Jahrhunderts. Würzburger musikhistorische Beigträge, bd. 3. Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1975. ML178 D36 1975

    • Contains thematic catalogue of introits

  • Gerken, Robert E.  "Polyphonic Cycles of the Proper of the Mass."  PhD diss., University of Indiana, 1969.

    • Comparative and stylistic analysis of cycles
    • Also includes development of the polyphonic setting of the Proper of the Mass before 1300
    • Discant cantus firmus technique before 1450

Sequences

  • van Deusen, Nancy.  "Sequence Repertories: A Reappraisal."  Musica Disciplina 48 (1994): 107-11.

    • Introductory resource on the sequence as a genre
    • Includes patterns of its inclusion in manuscripts, values of researching sequences, and research directions

  • Crocker, Richard L. The Early Medieval Sequence. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977.  ML3080 C87

    • Study of the early medieval (9th-century) sequence
    • Many modern transcriptions of texts and melodies
    • Appendix with list of manuscripts

  • Misset, Eugène, and Pierre Aubry, eds. Les proses d’Adam de Saint Victor: texte et musique, précédées d’une étude critique. Paris: H. Welter, 1900. M2 M3 v.2 (Rare Collection, Music Library)

  • Fassler, Margot. Gothic Song: Victorine Sequences and Augustinian Reform in Twelfth-Century Paris. Cambridge Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. ML3027.8 P2 F4 1993

    • Contains an anthology with some melodies
    • Many texts in translation

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Subjects: Music

Resource key

  • McGill users only
  • Open access resource
  • Free resource
  • In-library use
  • Catalogue record

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