The Liber Usualis, originally published in Belgium, is a compendium of Gregorian Chant, edited by the monks of Solesmes. The music is that of the Western Church of the Latin Rite, sung at solemn celebrations until the reforms of the Second Vatican Council went into effect in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Rubrics and explanatory materials in the Liber Usualis are in English. All songs, antiphons, responsories, and other materials are in Latin. All music is presented in the medieval, four-line staff, with square notes [puncta], and without measure lines. There is a full selection of settings for the Mass, as well as major parts of the Divine Office, today commonly called the Liturgy of the Hours. The Sunday Mass propers are for the one-year cycle of the post-Tridentine era.

This Liber Usualis is especially valuable for its presentation of "full chant," the most developed form of Gregorian Chant, intended for highly skilled unison choirs [scholae]. These settings are found for example, in the proper chants for Sunday Mass and feastdays, as well as the Requiem Mass.

Publisher Comments

Each volume is hardcover, bound in black, with red page edging, as well as a number of differently colored ribbons. Some of the volumes in stock are rebound, in like-new condition. All copies have prior use, in celebrations of the liturgy. Nevertheless, the copies available are in good shape and can still be used by any choir.

Note that the order of Vespers, for example, reflects that of the pre-Vatican II liturgy, with five Psalms rather than two Psalms and a canticle. The hymn given for Vespers is also located after the brief Scripture reading, rather than at the beginning, as in today's reformed liturgy. By and large, however, the Gregorian Chant itself is much the same as in the Graduale; it is eminently singable and especially beautiful, in the tradition of the Western Church.

Because of the extensive selection of music, the Liber Usualis is harder and harder to find. It is a precious heirloom of a time when Gregorian Chant was widely sung and widely appreciated.

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