Search Results for: Simple English Propers

This is the home of Simple English Propers, a project and book by Adam Bartlett. This extraordinary work has been met with widespread acclaim for the beauty and versatility of the music, and also for being the first generally accessible book of chanted propers in English for every parish. It provides complete entrance, offertory, and communion propers in English with psalms in modal chant, with four-line notation, for Sundays and solemnities. They can be sung by a single cantor or a full choir. The modes from the Gregorian original are wholly preserved to capture the sound and feel of the Graduale Romanum proper chants. They follow a total of 24 chant formulas to make singing easy for any choir in any parish. The project was sponsored by the Church Music Association of America, and the book Simple English Propers is a CMAA publication.

Hard copy or digital download

You can buy the book from the CMAA Shop.

Also, you are welcome to download the full book (PDF) or any of the booklets for specific days and seasons, listed below.

For more information, see articles about this project on our blog, The Chant Cafe.

Supplemental materials

Organ accompaniments by composer Ryan Dingess are now available:

Download Volume I | Volume II | Buy the accompaniment books at Lulu.com

Update (May 2015): We’ve reorganized our practice videos, so they’re easier to find.

Download the introduction to the book which contains a practical guide to singing the Simple English Propers.

Reprint permissions

The contents of this book may be downloaded, printed, used, and shared freely by all, as they are published under a Creative Commons license.

Simple English Propers by Adam Bartlett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://musicasacra.com/sep.

The Propers of the Mass are liturgical texts that vary from day to day according to the calendar: the Introit, the Gradual, the Responsorial Psalm, the Alleluia Verse (and the Lenten Tract which substitutes for it), the Offertory Chant, and the Communion Antiphon.

In recent years, there has been a flowering of musical settings in English for the proper texts of Mass, providing easy ways for choirs, cantors, and congregations to sing these authentic liturgical texts.

Over twenty collections of propers in English have appeared, and this page is a catalog of them. Many are available as free downloads or as printed books, so that you can sample some of the pieces while you decide which ones are most useful for your parish.

Some of these collections provide only one type of antiphon: that is, only entrance chants or only communion chants, while some provide several proper chants for the different parts of Mass. Also, some are based on Anglican-tradition texts, while some are based on texts published under Catholic authority.

Bruce Ford
modern notation (first edition); chant notation (second edition)
download first edition; download or buy second edition

Texts from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and the RSV Bible, edited
Melodies adapted from the Graduale Romanum and Graduale Novum (the second edition)
Provides: Entrance, Offertory, Communion;
first edition also includes the Gradual responsory, Alleluia, and Lenten Tract

C. David Burt, Partridge Hill Press
neumes
buy
download
Texts from Graduale Romanum
English propers set to psalm tones
Provides: Entrance, Gradual, Offertory, Communion

Ronald Prowse and others, AOD Academy of Sacred Music
modern notation
files
Texts from Graduale Romanum and the Roman Missal
Provides: Entrance, Offertory, Communion

Paul Ford, Liturgical Press
modern notation
buy
Texts from Graduale Simplex (2nd ed., 1975); The Simple Gradual (ICEL, 1968)
Melodies adapted from the Graduale Simplex. In addition to texts for major feasts, there are eight sets of seasonal texts for Ordinary Time, two for Advent, six for Lent, two for Sundays after Easter.
Provides: Entrance, Responsorial Psalm, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion

Jeff Ostrowski, Corpus Christi Watershed
modern notation
buy or download from this website
Texts from US Lectionary, 2nd ed.
Accompanied modal psalms. The web site includes settings by several other composers, in addition to those in the published edition.

Richard Rice, Hostia Laudis Co.
modern notation
download from this website
Texts from Graduale Romanum
SATB Settings of each Sunday’s communion chant

Aristotle Esguerra
modern notation
download: files listed here
Texts from Graduale Simplex
Melodies adapted from the Graduale Simplex, and set to SATB harmony. They can also be used a capella on the S line, or sung by an accompanied cantor.

Richard Rice, CMAA
neumes
buy
download
Texts from Graduale Romanum
Latin communion antiphons with English psalm verses

Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB
neumes
info; download
Texts from Roman Missal
Antiphons for Sundays, with verses from the Revised Grail Psalter.

Jared Ostermann
modern notation
info
Texts from Roman Missal and
Antiphons for Sundays, with verses from the Revised Grail Psalter.

Luke Massery and Greg Heislman
modern notation
website
Texts from Graduale Romanum, translated by Greg Heislman
Introits, adapted into hymn form

Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB
neumes
info; download
Texts from Roman Missal
Antiphons for Sundays, with verses from the Revised Grail Psalter.

Richard Rice
modern notation
download: at the website of the St. Michael Hymnal
Texts from Roman Missal; The Sacramentary (1985), ICEL
Introits for the liturgical year in metrical settings for schola or congregation. Includes accompaniment.

Fr. James Chepponis, Morning Star Music
modern notation
preview or buy
Texts from Roman Missal (2011, ICEL)
These entrance antiphons from the Roman Missal are scored for SATB choir with optional organ. They can be used in a call/repeat style, if desired.

Jeff Ostrowski, Corpus Christi Watershed
modern notation
download

Texts from US Lectionary, 2nd ed.
Accompanied chant gospel acclamations for the liturgical year.

Rev. Guy Nicholls, Association for Latin Liturgy
neumes
buy

English texts from the Roman Missal; Latin texts from the Graduale Romanum and the Roman Missal.
Chant introits with simplified melodies for Sundays and Solemnities.

Richard Rice
neumes (cantor) and modern notation (accompaniment)
buy
Texts from the U.S. Lectionary, the Roman Missal, and the Confraternity Psalms
Introit, Offertory, Communion antiphons; Responsorial psalms with accompaniment; verses in Gregorian psalm tones.

Kathleen Pluth and Charles Giffen
modern notation
PDF (Advent)
Texts from Graduale Romanum, adapted into hymn form
Introits

Jeff Ostrowski, Corpus Christi Watershed
neumes
buy
download
Texts from Graduale Romanum, Gregorian Missal, Revised Grail Psalter
The Graduale Romanum in English, set to the music of Gregorian Psalm Tones, for Sundays and Solemnities

Andrew Motyka
modern notation
download from this site
Texts from Graduale Romanum
Accompanied settings of the communion chant for congregational use in a responsorial psalm style. Also includes practice recordings.

Adam Bartlett
neumes
buy

Entrance, Offertory, and Communion Antiphons. Texts from Graduale Romanum and the Roman Missal.

Aristotle Esguerra, Corpus Christi Watershed
neumes
buy
download
Texts from US Lectionary, 2nd ed.
Unaccompanied modal psalms.

Arlene Oost-Zinner, CMAA
neumes
buy
download
Texts from US Lectionary, 2nd ed.
Unacccompanied modal psalms

Palmer and Burgess, CMAA
neumes
buy vol1&2, vol3&4
download vol1&2, vol3&4
Texts from Graduale Romanum
The melodies found in the Graduale Romanum set to English translations.
Provides: Entrance, Offertory, Communion
Note: these chants have been transcribed by Andrew Hinkley for the Gregobase collection of chant engravings and transcriptions: volumes I and II; volumes III and IV

Fr. Samuel Weber, OSB
neumes
buy
website
Texts from Graduale Romanum in English translation
Proper chants, fully notated, including options with full or simplified melodies. The volumes cover (1) Sundays and Solemnities, (2) weekdays, (3) the sanctoral calendar, and (4) ritual Masses. Organ accompaniments are available at the website.

Brian Michael Page
modern notation
website
Texts from the Roman Missal and the Graduale Romanum
Introits, Responsorial Psalms, Offertories, Communions for Sundays and Solemnities. Gradual responsory included for some Sundays.

Aristotle Esguerra
neumes
download
Texts from Graduale Romanum
The tracts of the Sundays and feast days of Lent, set to psalm tones for easy singing.

Richard Rice, CMAA
modern notation
buy
download
Texts from Roman Missal Second Edition (The Sacramentary, 1985)
Proper texts of the Mass set for an SATB choir and congregation. A Braille adaptation of the first edition is on-line.
Provides: Entrance, Offertory, Communion

Adam Bartlett, CMAA
neumes
buy
download
Texts from Graduale Romanum; Gregorian Missal
Melodic adaptations and textual translations of the Graduale Romanum Propers for Sundays and Feast days
Provides: Entrance, Offertory, Communion

Thanks to Noel Jones for contributing to this handy list.

Appendix: Additional resources for Mass Propers

Plainchant:

• English Propers, Office, and other English music for liturgy by Fr. Samuel Weber
• More material by Fr. Weber at his website
• Passion According to St. John, in English (if using, email Fr. Weber)
• English Propers (Arbogast, Paul. 1964)

More English resources (many suitable for Ordinary Form Masses in English):

• Choral Introits and Graduals (Willan, 1957; written for Lutheran use) (sold by Concordia)
• Introits of the Sarum Rite (Palmer)
• Ordinary of the Mass (Winfred Douglas, 1933)
• Salisbury Antiphoner (Palmer)