Liber Brevior

Liber Brevior

Latin Edition; Monks of Solesmes; 7.5 x 4.87 x 0.87in; Hardcover, 766 pages

Everyone familiar with singing Gregorian Chant knows about the big book called the Liber Usualis. It has been the standard book for chant since around 1904 when it first came out. It contains almost everything one would need to sing the Divine Office as well as the daily and Sunday Masses. But it is a very large and heavy book. Certainly, this book is a must for those who chant the Divine Office in choir. But what about the average traditional choirs in churches, chapels, and schools?

Enter the Liber Brevior. In response to the demand of some for a book that would include the ordinary sung portions of the Mass (Kyrie, etc.) as well as the daily changing parts (the propers), the Desclée publishing house in Belgium and the Gregorian Institute of America in 1954 came out with the Liber Brevior to meet the needs of those who wished to sing Gregorian Chant, but did not need those parts pertaining to the Divine Office. The publishers have reprinted this book to the exact specifications of the original. As a matter of fact, even the two ribbons are the same color as the original edition. The size, cover texture and red edges all match the original to such a degree that it would be hard to tell the difference between an original Liber Brevior and this reprinted version.

It has a supplement with five Masses that were not included in the 1954 edition – St. Joseph the Worker, the Queenship of Mary, St. Pius X, the North American Martyrs & Our Lady of Guadalupe. Also, the publishers added a supplement to the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for those who want to use it as a votive Mass during Paschal time. And they updated the moveable feast chart that goes up to the year 2041. In the back section of the book, there is another set of Graduals, Alleluias and Tracts in a simpler Gregorian Chant tone arrangement of the same music.

Teachers will love this book since it does away with having to photocopy pages for students, since each student can have his or her own copy.