Corpus Christi Watershed has just made available an important resource for Gregorian chant, a pdf of the rare 1908 Solesmes edition of the Roman Gradual, which you can download for free from their website at the following link: https://www.ccwatershed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/80291-Graduale-Romanum-Solesmes-1908-Reduc.pdf.
The first two pages of the Graduale, with the Introit, Gradual and most of the Alleluja for the First Sunday of Advent.
The accompanying article by Jeff Ostrowski, whom we think for bringing this to our attention, gives a detailed explanation of the place of this edition in the revival of Gregorian chant that took place at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. This was the period when the simplified versions of Gregorian chant in use since the 17th century were replaced by new editions based on more ancient manuscripts, thanks to the work of the monks of Solesmes.
The same chants in the simplified version from an 1871 Pustet edition; the simplified version of the Introit antiphon is shorter than the restored version by 28 notes, the Gradual by 83!
The first two pages of the Graduale, with the Introit, Gradual and most of the Alleluja for the First Sunday of Advent.
The same chants in the simplified version from an 1871 Pustet edition; the simplified version of the Introit antiphon is shorter than the restored version by 28 notes, the Gradual by 83!
