A Catalogue of Choral Music for the Liturgical Year

For Roman Catholic Church choral directors, to date there is no single resource devoted to sacred choral music for the Roman Catholic Mass that matches all the official texts of three liturgical books: Roman Missal, Graduale Romanum, and Lectionary for Mass, for the celebration of the Mass according to the revisions of the Second Vatican Council. Current resources do not provide a comprehensive list of suggestions based upon all three liturgical books, and none represents the rich and long history of choral music. While publishers may suggest pieces based upon the liturgical texts, they only list those pieces that they themselves publish.In order to provide directors who serve the Roman Catholic Church, a catalogue was created of choral motets that may be used for each Sunday and major feasts that replace Sundays of the Catholic Church's liturgical year. Each Proper text from the Roman Missal and Graduale Romanum and readings from the Lectionary for Mass assigned to each Mass is presented with one motet from each of the five main musical periods (Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern), if located, that matches those texts. In the introduction to the catalogue, the author provides evidence for why choral pieces based upon the liturgical texts should be sung by quoting relevant musical-liturgical Church documents and examining historical musical practices. The purpose and structure of the current Entrance, Offertory, and Communion antiphons from the Roman Missal and the Graduale Romanum, are analyzed. Finally, the method employed for locating pieces to be included in the catalogue is presented