Liber Usualis

The Liber Usualis ( from the Latin liber, book ' and spätlat Usualis, usual, customary. ', So something like, ' book for practical use ') is a Latin hymn book of commonly used pieces of Gregorian chant in square notation. He was released in 1896 by monks of the French Abbaye Saint -Pierre de Solesmes and appeared until 1964 almost annually changed or extended editions.

The 1,900 -page hymn book contains all the chants for the Ordinary and the Propers of the Mass on all Sundays and holidays of the liturgical year, as well as songs for the Liturgy of the Hours.

The publication of the Liber Usualis falls in the first phase of restitution of Gregorian chant, which began in the French monasteries from the second half of the 19th century, led to a passionate research activities and in the Motu Proprio Tra le sollecitudini Pope Pius X from November 22, 1903 culminated, the designated gregorian chant as the quintessential musical expression of the Church and its liturgy and then assigned him a privileged place in the church music. The Dom André Mocquereau (1849-1930), edited by Liber Usualis but suffered from the very beginning under its faulty rhythmic understanding, after each note of the chorale is basically the same length to sing.

The Liber Usualis is now partially obsolete, as it the liturgical reforms that have occurred in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, not yet taken into account on the one hand, and on the other hand, because the Gregorian semiology in the last few decades great progress in deciphering the older Neumenhandschriften has made that allow particular differentiated insights into the design of rhythmic chants. The Liber Usualis is today largely replaced in practice by other chant books such as the Graduale Romanum ( 1974).

Because of the completeness of the collection of the Liber Usualis is nevertheless still a sought-after collector's item, and preserved specimens achieve antiquarian collector's prices. A reprint of the 1953 edition published in 1997 in a U.S. publisher.