Liber Usualis
Taken from WikiPedia.org
The Liber Usualis Missae et Officii, more commonly known as Liber Usualis, is a liturgical book containing a collection of mostly Gregorian chants. The first edition dates back to 1896, carried out by the monks of the Abbey of Solesmes. Several editions followed and after the Second Vatican Council it was no longer reprinted. The Liber Usualis is distributed throughout the world in Latin, although it is currently replaced by the Graduale Triplex where in the repertoire, in addition to the square notation, the St. Gall notation is also transcribed.
The Liber Usualis contains the complete Latin settings of the Gregorian chant for each mass of the year (Sundays, solemnities, communions and feasts), as well as for wedding masses, Requiem masses, Holy Week and ordination. It also provides much of the Gregorian Chant to be sung in Latin for the Divine Office (Vespers, Compline, etc.), as well as many other traditional Latin chants and hymns (Litanies, Benediction, etc.).
After the Ordo Missae, that is, the text of the Mass, there is a small guide to Gregorian chant addressed to less experienced singers with indications in the performance of the psalmody. This is followed by:
- the Ordinary of the Mass
- all the Psalms in their eight tones
- the Magnificat, which are used in the recitation of the Roman Breviary and in the Liturgy of the Hours.
It continues with: for each day of the liturgical calendar, all the chants that must be sung on the vigil, in morning lauds, in the third, sixth, and ninth hour, in Vespers, in Compline and in the Mass are marked.
The chants that concern the Liturgy of the Hours are contained in that part of the book called “Antiphonarium“, while those that concern the Mass are in the part of the “Gradualia“.
The Liber Usualis is made up of a heterogeneous collection of pieces. Most of the pieces belong to the heritage of Gregorian chant, another good part is of more recent date and bears the more or less visible characteristics of the place and time of composition (Mass and Office of the Most Holy Trinity for example). Other pieces even go so far as to distance themselves clearly from the Gregorian style (Adoro te, Stabat Mater) or are completely opposed to it (O filii et filiae, Adeste fideles), while remaining religious music.
There is no Liber Usualis from 1962, because the Liber Usualis of 1962 is identical to the 1961 version.
Scan of the Liber Usualis book courtesy of the Church Music Association of America (CMAA).