I am very excited to announce that Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB, monk of St. Meinrad Archabbey and Gregorian chant scholar has released the third chapter of his book “Gregorian Chant Intonations and Role of Rhetoric” into the common domain for all to benefit from. You can download it here.
The “Gregorian Chant Intonations…” book is essentially broken into two sections. The first is a study of the melodic verbal contexts of Gregorian chant intonations, and the second half is Fr. Kelly’s working “manual” of Gregorian chant interpretation and practice. The methodology laid out in this chapter is the basic content of his chant seminars that are offered regularly at St. Meinrad and across the country.
The Church Music Association of America has been very generous in making available to all in the past few years digital editions of chant manuals and guides from the first half of the 20th century. How wonderful it is now to have this resource freely available from a contemporary voice who can add to the great tradition that has been handed down to us with many of the most recent insights in the world of Gregorian chant scholarship.
Thank you Fr. Kelly for showing us that chant instructional materials do not have to go into the public domain before they can be shared freely with all!
If anyone would like to buy a printed copy of the entire book you can do so here.