TheRoman Gradual (Latin:Graduale Romanum) is an official liturgical book of theRoman Rite of theRoman Catholic Church containingchants, including theproper and many more, for use inMass.
Theeditio typica dates from 1908.[1] The latest edition of 1974 takes account of the1970 revision of theRoman Missal.
In 1979, theGraduale Triplex: The Roman Gradual With the Addition of Neums from Ancient Manuscripts (ISBN 978-2852740440 in English (1985),ISBN 978-2-85274-094-5 in Latin) was published. It added reproductions of theneumes from ancient manuscripts placed above and below the later notation.
The Roman Gradual includes the
It includes a selection of chants that are also published in a companion volume known as theKyriale, a collection of chants for theOrder of Mass: the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.
There have been and are other Graduals, apart from the Roman Gradual. For instance, theDominican Order had its own rite of Mass and its own Gradual: "Graduale juxta ritum sacri Ordinis Praedicatorum" (Gradual according to the rite of the Sacred Order of Preachers).[2]
The 1974 Roman Gradual is arranged into 8 major sections:
Originally the book was called anantiphonale missarum ("Antiphonal of the Mass"). Graduals, like the later Cantatory, may have originally included only the responsorial items, the Gradual,Alleluia, andTract.[3]
In 1908 a revised edition of the Roman Gradual was published. In itPope Pius X gave official approval to the work of the monastery of Solesmes, founded in the 1830s by Dom Guéranger, was done by Dom Pothier in restoring Gregorian chant to its purity by removing the alterations it had undergone in the centuries immediately preceding. The work had involved much research and study.[4]
That edition of the Roman Gradual was the basis also of a more general compilation of chants known as theLiber Usualis. This was not an official liturgical book, but it contained a large part of the chants of the Roman Gradual, as well as other chants and hymns and instructions on the proper way to sing them.
In 1974, after theSecond Vatican Council an edition of the Roman Gradual based on that of 1908 was issued. While the melodies remained unchanged, there was a relocation of pieces to fit the revisedRoman Missal and calendar. Some chants were replaced by ancient ones rediscovered after 1908.[5] A simpler gradual for small churches or inexperienced choirs was published in 1967 and 1975, as theGraduale Simplex.
In 2011 (Part 1 De dominicis et festis) and 2018 (Part 2 De feriis et sanctis) theGraduale novum was published by Christian Dostal, Johannes Berchmans Göschl, Cornelius Pouderoijen,Franz Karl Praßl, Heinrich Rumphorst, and Stephan Zippe, members of the melodic restitution group of AISCGre (International Society for the Study of Gregorian Chant). It claims to be “a more critical edition” according toSC 117,[6] but is not acritical edition.[7]
Despite an initial disappearance of the use of the Roman Gradual from many parishes following theSecond Vatican Council, often done out of a misunderstanding that Gregorian Chant had been abrogated or otherwise discouraged, its use has become increasingly popular in recent years. Parishes which celebrate the Mass according to the 1970Roman Missal, whether fully in Latin or a vernacular language, have begun to utilize the chants of the Gradual. This has been encouraged by the most recentPopes, includingPope Francis who has encouraged the presence of a Schola Cantorum in every parish so that at least one Mass might be celebrated with the Church's official music.[8]
| International | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
