Customer Reviews

Adoremus Hymnal - Choir Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

This hymnal is well worth every penny I spent on it. It has the Order of the Mass and many well known and beloved hymns. They are divided into categories such as Easter, Epiphany, General, Good Friday, Holy Thursday, Lent, Easter and so on. The binding is excellent and the cover is a rich, dark red. I ordered the choir edition because I like to play the piano and it gives the SATB for each song.
The one thing I was most impressed with was how fast Amazon got this hymnal to me. Their shipping time is outstanding, the book is brand new, the cost cannot be beat, and it was packaged very well.
If you are looking for a good standard hymnal this is the one to buy.

This is the same hymnal that is used on Mother Angelica's EWTN Masses. The hymnal, put out by Ignatius Press, is one of the better pew hymnals having the best of both the traditional and newer hymns. And what's even better is that the hynmal is cheaper on Amazon than found elsewhere.

This hymnal has many of the older songs that I sang back in the 50's and 60's in Catholic grade school and high school. I bought it specifically because it had songs to the Blessed Virgin Mary and other Latin hymns that I remember our Catholic Church doing at the liturgies before Vatican II. It is a great accompaniment to newer hymnals and a great way to reminesce the days when I grew up.

The Adoremus Hymnal is a wonderful collection of sacred hymns. Unfortunately, the version I ordered (Choir Edition) was marked incorrectly, and I received the pew edition instead. Without realizing it, I wrote a message in the front of the hymnal and gave it as Christmas gift. The recipient noticed the sticker on the back of the hymnal listed choir edition, but the music inside was the simple melody line. Overall the music in the hymnal is great; it's the mix up in versions of the hymnal that was disappointing.

With congregations going back to more Latin, this is a real bridge
between modern-traditional and full-fledged Latin liturgies.
I understand that I purchased it at a great price from Amazon.

I too, like Music Girl received the incorrect congregational volume. It had the correct label on the back of the book, but it was not the choir edition. Amazon was quick to try and correct the matter......I just hope that I get the right one this time! 8-) Just be on the alert!