Cantus Planus
Catalogue of chant texts and melodies
The premium catalogue to identify chant texts and melodies – with further links – is the Cantus Index. This brings together a range of websites and databases which allow individuals to search across different genres of chant (antiphons, responsories, Ordinary chants, hymns and sequences) as well as feast days :
For the texts and melodies for Mass and Office in the medieval Gregorian tradition – in synoptic form with useful information on the Biblical origins of the texts – see:
Antiphonale/Graduale Synopticum
One of the best search engines for melodies of the Mass – across Gregorian, Old Roman and Milanese traditions – is ‘Chant Digger’ developed by Max Haas (it includes a brief instruction manual):
Music theory
The full texts of medieval Latin music theory – which often quote and interpret individual chants and give information about modality etc. – are part of the Thesaurus Musicarum Latinarum project at the Center for the History of Music Theory and Literature:
A further vital resource is the Lexicon musicum Latinum (LmL) which works alphabetically through important terms in musical writings from the Middle Ages:
More in-depth articles on certain terms from medieval treatises formed part of the project on musical terminology which can also be searched alphabetically:
Handwörterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie
Bibliography
New publications on chant are regularly collected and published as part of the ‘Liturgical Chant Bibliography’ in Plainsong and Medieval Music. New entries can be mailed directly to: liturgchantbiblio@gmail.com
Discography
Jerome Weber has been collecting information for his A Gregorian Chant Discography since 1972; he has also contributed articles on discography for Plainsong and Medieval Music. All this information has now been collected on to a dedicated website:
Personal Websites
The websites of individual chant scholars are often treasure troves of information. Of particular note are the resources put together by David Hiley with the assistance of Robert Klugseder:
Similarly, for information about French manuscript sources with notation and searchable databases about sequences, hymns, Kyrie chants and much else besides, there is the website of Christian Meyer:
Music-Writing Programmes
Music-Writing programmes are in a state of flux at present. Optical recognition of medieval music manuscripts is, literally, patchy; and traditional music-writing programmes (e.g. Finale, Sibelius) require a considerable amount effort to erase details already entered. One of the simplest and most effective programmes to transcribe chant into modern notation remains ‘Volpiano’ and plans are afoot to make it compatible with MEI:
Alternatively, a good option which is free to download is NoteAbilityPro (albeit only for Mac):