A reader recently alerted me to the existence of the Solesmes Nocturnale (aka Liber Antiphonarius pro vigiliis cura scriptorii Paeographici solesmensis praeparatus Nocturnale ad interim, Solesmes, 2017), and asked if it was worth buying in terms of putting together Matins.
The short answer, particularly from a 1962 Office point of view, is no.
The slightly longer answer follow by way of an addition to my collection on Resources for Matins.
Why not to buy...
Despite the title, the book is not actually a full Nocturnale.
It does not provide the ferial texts or chants for Matins and provides only a limited selection of chants for thirteen feasts, all of which are readily available in other sources.
And the few 'new' responsories (for Tenebrae) are not used in the 1962 (and earlier) version of the Office.
It does include the texts of the psalms, but in the Neo-Vulgate.
And the selection of responsories and other texts often does not reflect the 1962 breviary, instead it rearranges them and in some cases replaces them with alternatives.
The changes
The book provides the texts for Tenebrae of Good Friday and Holy Saturday for example. But it rearranges the order of some from that of the older breviaries, and adds alternative responsories in.
It is not really obvious to me why they have made these changes: while some of the 'new' responsories do seem to have been reasonably common in the manuscripts, a quick look at the Cantus Database suggests no more so than those that have been used in the Roman and Benedictine Breviaries since Trent.
Similarly, why has the last responsory of All Saints (Vidi angelum ascendentem) been dumped in favour of a responsory ascribed in the manuscripts to the Feast of the Holy Innocents?
Updated chants?
As far as I can see the book largely brings together updated versions of the chants that have already been published in other places, such as the Liber Hymnarius and assorted other Solesmes publications, rather than providing anything new.
Whether you like the updated versions will depend on your attitude to Solesmes methodology of building composite chants from the manuscripts, rather than simply selecting the best version from one.
We do need a true Benedictine Nocturnale - the best source for the ferial Office remains, as far as I know, an informal draft by Peter Sandhofe, and there remain at least fifty responsories included in the breviary for which I have been unable to find published versions of the chants for example.
Unfortunately, this is not it!
