1 Sancte Dei
2 Salve Sanctus Parens
3 In Paradisum Angeli
4 Sanctus and Benedictus
5 Conditor Alme
6 Organ Voluntary (I)
7 Te Lucis Ante Terminum
8 Christus Natus Christos
9 Kyrie Christe Eleison
10 Organ Voluntary (II)
11 Gloria
12 Puer Natus Est
13 Sanctus and Benedictus, II
14 Beata Dei
15 Veni Sancte Spiritus
16 Organ Voluntary (III)
17 Dominus Exsultemus

Ambrosian Singers
Benedictine Monks of St. Michael's
Denis Stevens – conductor

This is not technically chant, but it's beautiful and inspiring for what it is. If you want to spend some time in contemplation and prayer and need an aid to help you from the distractions of daily life, I highly recommend this cd. It's haunting yet comforting. It takes you out of this fast-paced often relentless world to a place of utter peace. --- EUS, amazon.com

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Václav Karel Holan Rovensky
1. Maria, pole vznešené (Maria, thou lofty field)
2. Ach Boze, kterak jsem zaslouzila (O God, how did I deserve)
Antonín Reichenauer
3. Cantata ad Montem Sanctum "Quæ est ista"
Václav Karel Holan Rovensky
4. Maria, dej devolení (Mary, give your consent)
5. Rorate coeli, kdyz svatí proroci (Rorate coeli, when holy prophets)
Antonín Reichenauer - 	Triosonata in D major
6. Adagio
7. Allegro
8. Adagio
9. Tempo di Menuet
Jan Dismas Zelenka - Alma Redemptoris Mater
10. Alma Redemptoris Mater - Adagio un poco
11. Succurre cadenti
12. Virgo prius - Larghetto piano sempre
Christmas Traditional / John Francis Wade
13. Adeste fideles
Antonín Reichenauer
14. Aria de Adventu "O coeli, rorate"
Václav Karel Holan Rovensky
15. Ó duše má rozmilá (Oh my beloved)
Johann Friedrich Fasch - Sonata in G major, for Flute, Two Recorders & Basso continuo
16. Andante
17. Allegro
18. Affetuoso
19. Allegro
Antonio Caldara
20. Aria. "Quel pargoletto"
Václav Karel Holan Rovensky
21. K Jezíškovi (To little Jesus)
Václav Karel Holan Rovensky
22. Detátko rozkošné (A darling child)

Hana Blažíková – soprano (2,4,10,11,12,14,20,21)
Kamila Ševčíková – alto (5,22)
Tomáš Král – baritone (3,15)
Marián Krejčík – baritone (1)

Collegium Marianum
Jana Semerádová  - artistic director 
(on period instruments)

In the rich musical life of early 18th century Prague, the Advent and Christmas seasons formed a chapter unto themselves. Their specific repertoire consisted not only of the themes of this liturgical season (including a strong element of the Marian cult), but also of special liturgical and musical forms. In both songs and figural music Czech suddenly appeared side by side with Latin, along with elements of folk religion and culture. These are most to be heard in the charming Advent and Christmas poeticism of the songs of Holan Rovenský. Prague’s archives also hold whole troves of pieces with more sophisticated forms, both those by composers who worked in Prague (A. Reichenauer, J.F. Fasch) and those brought in from elsewhere (A. Caldara, Dresden-based J. D. Zelenka, and others). All the pieces on this new recording by the outstanding Collegium Marianum share the atmosphere of expectation of the Savior’s arrival and the spirit of peace and joy. And joy is precisely what shines through the thoughtful musicological and dramaturgical program of this "authentic" recording into the heart of the listener, whether during the seasons of Advent and Christmas or at any other time. --- supraphon.com

Apart from an arrangement of the Baroque carol "Adeste Fideles," for carillon, Rorate Coeli: Music for Advent and Christmas in Baroque Prague doesn't include the traditional holiday fare, but for the listener who wants to explore Christmas music from another time and place, this elegant album has much to offer. It includes both vocal and instrumental works, and the composers range from the somewhat obscure to the utterly unknown. This CD marks the first recordings of music by Antonín Reichenauer, including a delightful Italianate Trio Sonata and two graceful vocal works. Václav Karel Holan Rovensky is known to scholars for the massive collection of hymns, songs, and liturgical music he assembled late in the seventeenth century, and he is represented by seven exceptionally lovely hymns. The other Czech composer included is Jan Dismas Zelenka, whose Alma Redemptoris Mater is a marvel of late Baroque elegance and expressiveness. German composer Johann Friedrich Fasch served as a chapel musician in Prague and is represented by a lively and refined Sonata for flute, two recorders, and basso continuo. Italian Antonio Caldara is the only composer without a direct connection to Prague, but his nativity aria "Qual pargoletto," which has the character of a pastorale, was widely popular throughout Europe and may well have been performed in Prague, where Italian music was held in especially high regard. The performances are consistently excellent. Jana Semerádova leads Collegium Marianum in nuanced and spirited performances, and her realizations of accompaniments to Rovensky's hymns are especially effective. The vocal soloists are above reproach, singing with purity and energy, but baritone Marián Krejcík stands out for the resonance of his voice and the expansiveness of his performance. Supraphon's sound is clear, balanced, and nicely ambient. ---Stephen Eddins, Rovi

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 Responsoria ad Matutium in Nativitate Domini iuxta ritum monastaticum
1 I: Hodie nobis caelorum rex	6:32 	
2 II: Hodie nobis de caelo pax	2:35 	
3 Responsorium III: Quem vidistis, pastores	2:48 	
4 Responsorium IV: Descendit de caelis		4:16 	
5 Responsorium V: O magnum misterium	3:34 	
6 Responsorium VI: Beata Dei Genitrix	2:26 	
7 Responsorium VII: Sancta et immaculata virginitas	2:30 	
8 Responsorium VIII: Angelus AD Pastores Ait	4:03 	
9 Responsorium IX: Ecce Agnus Dei	3:59 	
10 Responsorium X: Beata viscera	3:52 	
11 Responsorium XI: In principio erat verbum	3:03 	
12 Responsorium XII: Verbum caro factum est	5:04 	

Proprium Primae Missae in Nativitate - Introitus: Dominus dixit
13 Introitus: Dominus dixit		2:01 	
14 Graduale: Tecum principium		4:27 	
15 Alleluia: Dominus dixit	2:50 	
16 Offertorium: Laetentur caeli		1:18 	
17 Communio: In splendoribus		0:42 	

Proprium Missae in Epiphania Domini
18 Introitus: Ecce advenit	2:36 	
19 Graduale: Omnes de Saba	2:54 	
20 Alleluia: Vidimus stellam	2:29 	
21 Offertorium: Reges Tharsis	2:21 	
22 Communio: Vidimus stellam		0:53 	

Proprium Missae in Ascensione Domini
23 Introitus: Viri Galilaei	3:10 	
24 Alleluia I: Ascendit Deus	1:56 	
25 Alleluia II: Dominus in Sina	2:44 	
26 Offertorium: Ascendit Deus		1:47 	
27 Communio: Psallite Domino		1:06

Coro de Monjes de la Abadía de Montserrat and Pater Gregori Estrada (1-12)
Choralschola des Klosters Maria Einsiedeln and Pater Roman Bannwart  (13-27)

Information from CD; originally from Peter Wilton; also from Todd McComb and J.F. Weber.

This set surveys various monastic styles and makes a popular introduction, although it is available only intermittently (McComb). Although described as a "hodge-podge" in another section of this website (A Selection of Chant Recordings – Western Chant), J.F. Weber expressed a strong disagreement about the use of this term.

He states in a personnal communication:

« This is extremely misleading. The box of four CDs originated as six LPs with the same series title. It was a carefully planned exemplification of the various traditions of Western Plainchant, as follows:

1) Mozarabic chant, recorded at Silos where the editions of Rojo and Prado were prepared.

2) Mass Propers from the earliest St. Gall MSS, recorded at Einsiedeln, where one of the most important and earliest (Ein 121) of these is kept.

3) Office responsories in the monastic use recorded at Montserrat and still the only set of 12 responsories for Matins of Christmas on record.

4) Ambrosian chant, recorded at the Milan cathedral (not a "monastic ensemble"); the importance of this moderate interpretation can best be judged by comparing it with the very fast Schola Hungarica record and the very slow Ensemble Organum record, which cancel each other.

5) Semiotic interpretation of chant, recorded at Muensterschwarzach by Godehard Joppich.

6) The traditional Mocquereau interpretation of chant, recorded at Fontgombault, which maintains a traditional approach to liturgy and chant.

You can see that this series was carefully conceived and comprehensively executed. The pejorative "hodge-podge" is extremely inaccurate. Perhaps the layout on four CDs (with the Einsiedeln Mass Propers divided between two discs) somewhat obscured the perfect organization for the sake of economy (four CDs at budget price). »

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Dominica in Palmis
De Benedictione Ramorum et de Processione cum Ramis Benedictis
1.Antiphona: Hosanna
2.Antiphona: Pueri Hebraeorum
3.Antiphona: Cum audisset
4.Antiphona: Coeperunt omnes
5.Antiphona: Occurrunt turbae
6.Antiphona: Cum angelis
7.Antiphona: Ante sex dies
8.Hymn: Gloria, laus et honor
9.Responsory: Ingrediente

Dominica in Palmis
Proprium Missae
10.Introit: Domine, ne longa facias
11.Gradual: Tenuisti manum dexteram
12.Tract: Deus, Deus meus
13.Offertory: Improperium
14.Communion: Pater, si non potest

Proprium Primae Missae in Dominica Resurrectionis
15.Introit: Resurrexi
16.Gradual: Haec dies - Confitemini
17.Alleluia: Pascha nostrum
18.Sequence: Victimae paschali laudes
19.Offertory: Terra tremuit
20.Communion: Pascha nostrum

Choralschola der Abtei Münsterschwarzach and Pater Goddehard Joppich (1-14)
Choralschola des Klosters Maria Einsiedeln and Pater Roman Bannwart (15-20)

Gregorian Chant has always been regarded as the supreme model for sacred music, so that it is fully legitimate to lay down the following rule: the more closely a composition for church approaches in its movement, inspiration and savor the Gregorian form, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes; and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple. The ancient traditional Gregorian Chant must, therefore, in a large measure be restored to the functions of public worship, and the fact must be accepted by all that an ecclesiastical function loses none of its solemnity when accompanied by this music alone. ---Pope Pius X, Tra le Sollecitudini, 1903

Finally, while respecting various styles and different and highly praiseworthy traditions, I desire, in accordance with the request advanced by the Synod Fathers, that Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy. ---Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, 2007, institute-christ-king.org

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Altspanische Gesänge
1.Kyrie I
2. II
3.Kyrie III
4.Gloria
5.Sacrificium: Offerte Domino
6.Sanctus
7.Agnus Dei I
8.Agnus Dei II
9.Antiphon (Laud): Statuit Dominus
10.Lamentatio Ieremiae Prophetae: Aleph, Ego vir videns

Cantus Missarum
11.Ingressa: Respice in me
12.Psalmellus: Pacifice loquebantur
13.Alleluia: Magi venerunt
14.Ante Evangelium: In Bethlehem Judae
15.Post Evangelium: Coenae tuae
16.Ante Evangelium: Laudate Dominum
17.Post Evangelium: Domine, Domine Deus
18.Offertory: Ubi sunt nunc dii
19.Contrafactorium: Ille homo
20.Transitorium: Gaude et laetare
21.Transitorium: Te laudamus

Ambrosianischer Choral
Cantus Officiorum
22.Hymn: Splendor paternae gloriae
23.Hymn: Agnes beatae virginis
24.Hymn: Apostolorum passio
25.Antiphon: Omnes patriarchae
26.Responsory: Tenebrae factae sunt
27.Antiphon: Rorate caeli
28.Antiphon: In exitu Israel
29.Antiphon (duplex): Venite omnis creatura
30.Psallenda: Pax in caelo
31.Psallenda: Videntes stellam magi

Coro de la Abadìa de Santo Domingo de Silos, Dom Ismael Fernandez de la Cuesta (1 – 10)
Capella Musicale del Duomo di Milano, Monsignore Luciano  (11 – 31)

Milan, the "second city" of medieval Italy after Rome, tenaciously clung to its local liturgical privileges. Legend credits the Milanese with defying even Charlemagne in defense of the so-called Ambrosian chant. This liturgy, specific to the diocese of Milan, spread to most of northern Italy and even some parts of present-day Austria; elements of the peculiar chant even survived the Council of Trent. Its name derives from St. Ambrose, the fourth century bishop of Milan and the supposed founder of the chant. At the very least, Ambrose was seminal for the early liturgical hymn, though hymns are strangely sparse in the Ambrosian repertory. The Ambrosian chant never grew to the bloated size of the pre-Tridentine repertory of Gregorian chant, but it maintained its own distinct musical traditions and liturgical forms.

Musically, many specific Ambrosian melodies in the Middle Ages also resisted the winds of change and may have traveled to later times in similar forms. Numerous other examples exist of Ambrosian chants that bear a filial relationship to Gregorian or Old Roman chants; often a process of musical embellishment clarifies that relationship. As with Gregorian chant, the Ambrosian melodies frequently display signs of motivic expansion by the addition of small melodic cells, perhaps indicating improvisation or oral transmission. The Ambrosian melodies tend to progress more often in stepwise motion than the Gregorian ones and span a much wider spectrum of style from one chant to another: extremely elaborate and solemn melismatic chants live alongside the simplest syllabic settings.

The forms and classifications of Ambrosian chants are sometimes parallel to those for Gregorian chant, but with prominent exceptions. The Ambrosian liturgical year follows only two main divisions, summer and winter (following an alternation between the two principal churches of medieval Milan). The Ambrosian Mass Ordinary only consists of a simply set Gloria, Credo, and Sanctus. Several of the distinctly Ambrosian Mass Propers (which also evolved from psalmodic antiphons) correspond to similar Gregorian forms: Ingressa (Introit), Post-Evangelium (Gradual), Cantus/Alleluia (Tract/Alleluia), Offrenda (Offertory), and Confractorium. Some elements of the Ambrosian Office expand upon the Gregorian liturgy: though the Ambrosian rite, for instance, conflates the Offices of Matins and Lauds, on festal days it adds an elaborate antiphona ad crucem during a mid-service procession, a Gloria patri, two processional psallendae, and a responsory in baptistero during concluding stational processions. Ambrosian Vespers, similarly, add an opening Lucernarium and on Sundays and feasts and an extra Vigil at the conclusion. --- Timothy Dickey, Rovi

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Dedicatio Ecclesiae
Ad Missam
 
1.Introit: Terribilis est
2.Kyrie XII
3.Gloria XII
4.Gradual: Locus iste
5.Alleluia: Adorabo
6.Offertory: Domine Deus
7.Sanctus XII
8.Agnus Dei XII
9.Communion: Domus mea

Dedicatio Ecclesiae
In I. Vesperis 
10.Hymn: Urbs Jerusalem
11.Antiphon ad Magnificat: Sanctificavit

Dedicatio Ecclesiae
Ad Matutinam 
12.Invitatory & psalmody: Domum Dei
13.Responsory: Fundata est

Dedicatio Ecclesiae
Ad Laudes 
14.Antiphons:
   1 Domum tuam
   2 Domus mea
   3 Haec est domus Domini
   4 Bene fundata est
   5  Lapides pretiosi

15.Hymn: Angularis fundamentum
16.Antiphon ad Benedictus: Zachaee

Dedicatio Ecclesiae
In I. Vesperis 
17.Antiphon ad Magnificat: O quam metuendus est
Altspanische Gesänge 
18.Prolegendum: Dominus regnavit
19.Tract: Vide, Domine, et considera
20.Laud (post Gospel): Laudate Dominum, quoniam bonus est psalmus
21.Preces: Ecclesiam sanctam catholicam
22.Nomina efferentium: Per misericordiam tuam, Deus noster
23.Antiphon: Pacem meam da vobis
24.Illatio: Introibo ad altare Dei mei
25.Sanctus
26.Post sanctus: Verum sanctus, vere benedictus
27.Credo
28.Pater noster
29.Ad confractationem panis: Gustate et videte

Choeur des Moines de l'Abbaye Notre-Dame de Fontgombault, Dom G. Duchene (1 – 17)
Coro de la Abadìa de Santo Domingo de Silos, Dom Ismael Fernandez de la Cuesta (18 – 29)

Gregorian Chant, also known as plainchant or plainsong, is an ancient form of Christian liturgical music. Plainsong has been around as long as the Christian church has, and was first catalogued and standardized by Pope Gregory I in the late sixth and early seventh centuries. The sound is monophonic (all voices sing the same note, with no harmony) and in eight set modes, and the chants are performed with simple, generally unaccented rhythm. The plainness of the music is intended to help churchgoers move quietly into a meditative, prayerful state, and for many hundreds of years, plainchant was the only kind of music allowed in church services for that reason -- other music was thought to be too distracting and too un-sacred. The traditional Gregorian Chants take their lyrics primarily from the psalms and from the ancient words of the Latin Mass. --- worldmusic.about.com

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