Divine Worship: The Missal - Chanted Propers

Introit for Easter Sunday

 THE MISSAL

The Personal Ordinariates published Divine Worship: The Missal (DW:TM) in 2015.  It incorporated elements of the Book of Divine Worship (BDW) that had been authorized by Rome for the Pastoral Provision groups (Anglican Use) in the USA in the 1980s.  It also includes more historically Catholic elements from English Catholic Missals and earlier editions of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP).  This wonderful departure from the earlier BDW was not bound by restriction added by Rome:  that nothing from Anglican Missals (like Propers) were allowed.  The BDW was to incorporate only elements of the contemporary authorized liturgical books of the Episcopal Church in the USA.  Thus, the inclusion of all of the Propers, for all of the Masses in DW:TM is the first time in a modern printed Missal since Vatican II.

Divine Worship: The Missal

THE PROPERS

Even with the restrictions on the BDW, many priests and musicians read, and understood, certain rubrics in the BCP.  There were places in the liturgies that suggested, in italics, something to the effect that: "Here may be said or sung a Psalm or hymn."  Considering that the vast majority of the Propers are directly from Psalms, it was a very easy decision to go ahead and incorporate Propers, in English, to the BDW Mass!  And it was quite easy to do, since most of us had access to The English Gradual, both Volume I with the Ordinaries and Volume II with the Propers.  Some parishes, like Our Lady of Walsingham (where I worked with Fr. James Moore) liked to use Anglican Chant as well.  We experimented with alternating between Gregorian and Anglican chants within a given proper.

THE GRADUAL

When the texts of the Missal Propers are put to music, that book is called a "gradual".  The official book for the Latin Rite is the Graduale Romanum.  The Church of England and associated Anglican Communion national churches were setting the English Propers to music long before Vatican II allowed all Catholics to use their "vernacular" languages.  The English Gradual - Part II The Proper (TEG) was the work of Francis Burgess, the Musical Director of the Gregorian Association.  My copy was printed by Lowe and Brydone Printers, Ltd., London, in the first half of the 20th century.  (There is no date in my copy.)  It's a small book, about 5" x 7", with about 230 pages.  There evidently was a harmony edition available from the publishers, but most of what remains in use are the melody editions.  Unlike the Book of Propers by Rev. Carlo Rossini (widely used in pre-Vatican II American parishes), TEG uses one only set of Psalm tones:

Introit:  Tone VII
Gradual:  Tone V
Alleluia:  Tone VI
Tract:  Tone VIII
Offertory:  Tone II
Communion:  Tone I

The English Gradual
Part I: The Proper

THE SAINT PETER GRADUAL

Published in 2018, The Saint Peter Gradual takes TEG and orders the Propers to match DW:TM.  Monsignor Carl Reid did a masterful job of typesetting the original Psalm Tone melodies in an easy to read book.  It is about 6" x 9" with 175 pages.  Newman House Press executed the printing and binding, and is also selling them on their website.  Please, consider purchasing copies for your singers and/or congregation.  It is very reasonably priced, and they provide bulk discounts.

The Saint Peter Gradual

MY PROJECT

ORGAN ACCOMPANIMENT FOR TSPG

When our parish office hours were reduced at the beginning of the COVID-19 shut-down, I decided to take on the personal project of supplying organ accompaniments to the entire TSPG.  It was not requested by anyone officially from the Ordinariates, but many of my Ordinariate musician friends encouraged me.

Most of my harmonies are from Nova Organi Harmonia (NOH).  I have been using the NOH for EF and OF Masses for some years.  Some of the Psalm Tones are variations of the traditional Gregorian Tones, so I had to extend my harmonies to include some other sources in my library.  Once I had decided on the accompaniments, it was just a matter of creating template files in Finale composing soft-ware.  It was also recommended that I use a special font - the Doves Type Font.  You can read my article in The Portal, March 2021 edition.

My Unauthorized Accompaniment to The Saint Peter Gradual contains a total of 90 sets of Propers.  There are 541 pages, not counting title, introduction, and contents pages.  The PDF file is bookmarked for ease in finding any Proper you need to print.  The price is US$45.00, and includes unlimited printing copies under Creative Commons and your contact information kept in a database for updates, etc.

I will send the PDF file to your preferred email address after payment is received.

There are a number of Propers that were not included in TSPG.  If you need one of them for a special celebration, just contact me at my email and I will help you.  I will ask a fee based on number of pages, and the Propers produced will be included in future addendum to the project.