Category: Adam Bartlett

Download them here

I am very grateful for the patience of those who have been waiting for Simple Propers for the Advent Season. I feel very badly about cutting it so close with this week’s offering. My apologies. Our goal (and I am working with two other contributors on the final product) is to have the rest of the Advent Season done and available by the end of this week, and to have much of the Christmas Season done by the end of next week. I realize that this is still not ideal, but I am very appreciative to all who have taken the leap to begin using these settings in liturgy. Your feedback has been invaluable, and the “beta” phase of this project has truly helped form and polish this collection so that it will best meet the needs of musicians out in the real world of parish liturgy.

A few notes this week:

-The full “Glory Be” has been removed from the end of the Introit. Now we only have the first words “Glory be to the Father…”. While this doxology is known pretty well by most Catholics it still may not be easily sung from memory by all. We will have the full “Glory Be” notated in square notes in every psalm tone in the back of the book for people to reference when they need to, much like our current Graduale. You can find the “Glory Be” sheet here for your future use.

-The “Glory Be” has also been suggested for use at the end of the Communion chant, according to the rubrics of the Ordo Cantus Missae, 1988.

-We are now indexing the Simple Propers as they are being produced for the final edition on the CMAA website, musicasacra.com. You can always go to this page for the newest updates and for the most recent versions of Simple Propers editions. I hope that we will see this page begin to rapidly fill up in the coming weeks and months!

Many blessings to you all in this Advent Season!

UPDATE: Here are the Simple Meinrad Tone Antiphon Settings

Here is a booklet that contains the “Glory be to the Father…” doxology in all eight modes for use with the Introit and Communion chants of the Simple English Propers Project.

We have decided to eliminate the reprinting of the Glory be text at the end of each Introit and instead will simply place the words “Glory be to the Father…” and the singer will be referred to the Glory be tones which will be found in the back of the book. This will save space and might also help demonstrate how the tones are to be sung, being that they are presented in full notation, much like the Gloria Patri tones in the back of our Graduale Romanum.

Please keep this on hand if you will be singing the Simple Propers from now on. Of course most will end up singing these from memory, but the sheet is here for your reference.

Note: Look for Simple Propers for the Second Sunday of Advent today, the rest of the Advent Season by the end of the week, and most of the Christmas Season by the end of next week.

I would like to express a special word of gratitude to all of you who have supported the Simple English Propers Project at the Chant Café from the bottom of my heart. It is truly a miracle how this project has come together and I think that we have all seen the transformative power of Divine Charity when we choose to participate with it. The sacred music community was able to gather for the Simple Propers project $5000 in exactly two weeks which will enable the project to be properly done in a timely and productive fashion. I am personally grateful to each benefactor who has seen value in this project and who has communicated that value through a financial contribution. When the project is complete it will be shared with everyone forever. Your gift will “keep on giving”. Thank you for your generosity.

As a result of the completed patronage campaign, the Simple English Propers Project has been able to organize itself for the production of the competed book, and just in time–We’re now able to offer a set of propers for the beginning of the new Church Year, the First Sunday of Advent, in a polished design that will form the beginning of the completed collection.

Download Simple Propers for the First Sunday of Advent Here

Please keep in mind that the “beta” phase for this collection is not quite over yet. Time is still needed for the melodic formulas to stabilize, and for the Modified Douay Psalms to stabilize as well. I am working with a small team on these efforts and we are making great progress. I suspect in a month or so we will be well on our way toward finishing the entire book.

Note in this week’s offering that we have decided to part ways with the “Simple Setting”. I would like to hear in the comment box if this will be missed. The general consensus has said that it will not. If there are some among you who have relied upon having these simple settings I will do my best to get you the resources you need. The decision was made essentially because of the size of the book would be over 500 pages with two antiphons for each proper, and is under 300 with only one.

Please offer any feedback that you might have as we are rolling very quickly into locking in on production and completion of this collection.

UPDATE: Here are additional “Simple Setting” antiphons for those who need them

This evening the 64th benefactor for the Simple English Propers project tipped the campaign, this on the eve of the 14th day since it first began. It has only taken two weeks to reach the project goal!

This is astounding and inspiring in every way. I am just shocked by the response to this project, and how quickly people of faith emerged to embrace a platform of decentralized patronage to commission a creative work which will be given forever as a gift to the Church.

Many must be scratching their heads wondering how this possibly happened. Many certainly have their curiosities piqued. We at the Chant Café are overjoyed, and I as the editor of this creative work am deeply humbled and most profoundly grateful to all of you who saw value in this project and took a leap of faith in a new model of sacred music commissioning. From the bottom of my heart: thank you!

I can assure you that much more reflection will follow. For now we just rest in joy and gratefulness to the Lord for all of the gifts that he has given us, and in thanksgiving for the members of the Body of Christ who cooperated to allow a movement to emerge which will be greater than the sum of its parts. May the Lord who began this good work bring it to completion!

Deo Gratias!