Medici Graduale de Sanctis Now on Display

The Graduale de Sanctis on a rotating music stand.

The Bandera Natural History and Art Museum is proud to unveil its newest artifact on loan, the Medici Graduale de Sanctis of 1614, generously offered by Dr. Jerry Waite, of Bandera. The Graduale is a liturgical choir book of Gregorian chants used during traditional Roman Catholic Mass. 

Commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII in 1577, the Graduale de Sanctis, a component of the broader Graduale Sacrosanctae Romanae Ecclesiae, took 37 years to complete. It was published by the Medici Press in 1614, by order of Pope Paul V. 

Musical notes sung on a single syllable, called neumes, are drawn in different shapes—some square, some diamond-shaped. These neumes are positioned on four horizontal lines, called staves, to indicate pitch—higher staves represent higher notes. Chant notation includes symbols, such as horizontal and vertical tick marks and dots that help singers know how long to sing each note. Also included are Roman Numerals that tell the singer the chant’s mode (or key). Composers included Palestrina and Annibale Zoilo.

Typically, the leather, wood, parchment and rope-bound book was placed on a pedestal and slowly turned for singers to memorize the neumes and tunes. In the choir loft of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City, the book was displayed and rotated so singers, positioned in choir stalls, could recall the Gregorian Chant they’d previously learned. This was done due to the scarcity—and enormous cost—of music books.

This edition was used for feast days of various saints. Possibly depicted in the museum’s Enconchado, The Presentation of Mary, the Graduale de Sanctis is a significant historical and musical document. 

Listen to a chant here (link goes to (YouTube): https://youtu.be/Trk29BliznY

For more information about how neumes appear and work, please see this Guide to Gregorian Chant on this external website: https://www.gregorian-chant-hymns.com/guides/chant-notation-guide-pdf.pdf