Adoremus Hymnal - Choir Edition [Hardcover]

Ignatius Press (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1998

This is the much anticipated new hymnal that will inspire Catholics to want to sing the great sacred music of our heritage. Beautifully bound, this hymnal is much more than a collection of hymns. Following the general plan in Musicam Sacram, this hymnal consists of three major sections: the Order of the Mass; musical settings for the Ordinary of the Mass; and a selection of about 160 of the most beautiful hymns ever written - for every season of the liturgical year and other feasts and holidays. All three sections include Latin and English selections.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: Ignatius Pr (September 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898706572
• ISBN-13: 978-0898706574
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #758,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Worship & Devotion > Hymns & Hymnals

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back At Ya!, January 23, 2004

By 

Allen Smalling "Constant Reader," (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Adoremus Hymnal - Choir Edition (Hardcover)

As a "mere" Mainline Protestant, let me add my kudos to the exciting and accessible ADOREMUS HYMNAL. I have with me the choral edition with its SATB (four-part choral) harmonies and am charmed by the combination of the Roman Catholic heritage and pleased and surprised and the amount of "crossover" there is to the post-1980 generation of most Protestant hymnals.

Clearly currents have been flowing both ways: R.C. congregations have begun singing for themselves in this post-Vatican II era, and some of what they sing depends in part on non-Catholic precedent: for example the 18th-Century English hymn "Rejoice, the Lord is King" (DARWALL'S 148th). On the other hand, both private-market and denominational Protestant hymnals have been slowly realizing the benefits Catholicity, one small example being Taize chants like "Jesus, Remember Me (When You Come Into Your Kingdom)."

It is not my place to second-guess the appropriateness of ADOREMUS for any particular Catholic parish, but I for one enjoy the freshness and versatility of the volume. It offers ecumenism without agenda--all in all, simply a darn good hymnal. Inquiring Protestant minds--and especially the musical staff--would do well to check it out, in my opinion.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous collection of Catholic Hymns!, May 7, 2000

By 

Steven Keller (Fairview Heights, Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Adoremus Hymnal - Choir Edition (Hardcover)

Best-loved, liturgically sound, Catholic hymns, in a new collection. The Adoremus Hymnal contains both Latin and English hymns and several mass ordinaries. The choir edition indexes by title and tune name, so is highly usable. If you are tired of inclusive language bastardizations of hymns such as Faith of Our Fathers, God of Our Fathers, etc., you will love this hymnal. In it you will find the original versions of these hymns as you remember them and love them. A winner!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice collection, has layout problems, June 4, 2010

By 

J. W. Kennedy "in statu uiae et meriti" (Richmond, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Adoremus Hymnal - Choir Edition (Hardcover)

I've been a church musician all my life, and hymnals hold a great fascination for me. I am simultaneously delighted and deeply disappointed with the Adoremus.

The Choir edition has two ribbon bookmarks built in; very handy for marking two different places in the book. Most hymns are set in full harmony. There are also plenty of plainsong and Gregorian chants. The front section contains Masses and Ordinaries in Latin and English, which is fascinating to me as a Protestant. The second section contains lots of beautiful Latin hymns and other Catholic material which I have never heard (we Protestants don't have any hymns venerating the Virgin Mary, for example.) The music overall is very good.

I have a few complaints. The first one is that the book contains no explanation on how to read the archaic Gregorian chant notation, which is written on a 4-line staff with little square notes and mysterious glyphs. Maybe this is something that Catholics "already know," but based on what the editors say in the preface about the disappearance of Gregorian chant from Catholic churches, I would guess this not to be the case. I looked up the notation online, and it would have taken only one page to explain the basics. A brief introduction to Gregorian chant included here would have been valuable and appreciated.

My next complaint is that this hymnal has FAR TOO MANY (I lost count but it's at least 30) two-page hymns that start on the right-hand side of the book. This means the second half of the hymn is on the BACK of the page, necessitating a page flip back and forth for each verse. For hymns more than two pages you can't avoid a page turn, but there's no excuse for a two-page hymn not to be printed on a single spread. The page flip is an annoyance for choristers and a severe impediment for keyboardists. I also saw a few hymns where the music was all on one page, but there were additional verses (or the English translation of the Latin) on the next page - meaning that when you flip over to sing the additional verses, you can no longer see the music. Inexcusable! It would have been easy enough to rearrange the order, move a few of the single-page hymns so that the two-pagers can appear on facing pages. To neglect this detail is an unpardonable sin, and it irritates me enough to take away two whole stars from my rating. No Protestant hymnal I've ever seen has been so thoughtlessly arranged .. and believe me, I've seen a LOT of them.

In summary, this is a fine collection of sacred music unfortunately hampered by a design flaw which shows a surprising lack of consideration for the practical needs of the end user.