In its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1964) required that official sacred chant books for the Church be published with care:
§117. The typical edition of the books of Gregorian chant is to be completed; and a more critical edition is to be prepared of those books already published since the restoration by St. Pius X. It is desirable also that an edition be prepared containing simpler melodies, for use in small churches.
One edition containing simpler melodies was released as the Graduale Simplex in 1967. Since then, use of Simplex antiphons in the U.S. has been limited, but at least one scholar has written that the Simplex did exert a considerable effect on the Alleluia before the Gospel. Prior to the new Missal of 1970, Alleluias were sizable melismatic chants. When usage of the Graduale Romanum declined, it appears the Simplex substitution of a triple Alleluia was adopted widely as the new default. Use of the actual melodies was not.
Whatever the faults of the overall approach of the Simplex, the use of a triple Alleluia throughout the liturgical year, and the lack of apparent rationale for their seasonal/festal distribution, the Alleluias in the Simplex are good examples of modal melody. They also have interesting rhythmic variety if one pays careful attention to groups of two and three. Some are somber, some haunting. All the triple Alleluias in the Simplex are available for study in PDF.
Triple Alleluias
In its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1964) required that official sacred chant books for the Church be published with care:
One edition containing simpler melodies was released as the Graduale Simplex in 1967. Since then, use of Simplex antiphons in the U.S. has been limited, but at least one scholar has written that the Simplex did exert a considerable effect on the Alleluia before the Gospel. Prior to the new Missal of 1970, Alleluias were sizable melismatic chants. When usage of the Graduale Romanum declined, it appears the Simplex substitution of a triple Alleluia was adopted widely as the new default. Use of the actual melodies was not.
Whatever the faults of the overall approach of the Simplex, the use of a triple Alleluia throughout the liturgical year, and the lack of apparent rationale for their seasonal/festal distribution, the Alleluias in the Simplex are good examples of modal melody. They also have interesting rhythmic variety if one pays careful attention to groups of two and three. Some are somber, some haunting. All the triple Alleluias in the Simplex are available for study in PDF.