The Recovering Choir Director

I found László Dobszay’s article “A living Gregorian Chant” (mentioned earlier here) while searching for recordings of the Ambrosian Creed. He mentions this setting of the Creed as part of the “Missa Mundi”, a composite Mass Ordinary that incorporates the simplest syllabic chant melodies as found in the Vatican Edition.

• Kyrie XVI
• Gloria XV
• Sanctus XVIII
• Agnus Dei XVIII

Here is a 96kbps MP3 recording of the Ambrosian Creed for educational purposes. As you will hear, it is a very simple melodic formula, akin to a psalm tone and with hardly a hint of modern tonality.

Here is a YouTube video of the Ambrosian Creed sung in its proper liturgical context.

Keen listeners will note the choir in the video does not sing the ti-flat indicated by the notation found in the Graduale Simplex.