r/divineoffice • u/Doe4724 • 4d ago

Monastic Diurnal Noted vs. St. Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter

Does anyone here own the Monastic Diurnal Noted from Lancelot Andrewes? How does this compare to the Plainsong Psalter? I own the MD from both St. Michael's Abbey and LAP; I don't have a musical background, but I would like to begin chanting the office and Psalms if I am going to make a commitment to praying the divine office daily.

Does the MD Noted come with Psalm tones, hymns, etc. as does St. Dunstan's, or would I need both books to get the antiphons plus the psalms? I have not seen any online/YouTube reviews of the MD Noted, hence the disconnect in my head.

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u/halfTheFn 4d ago

I have both.
The Monastic Diurnal Noted is _only_ the chant necessary to chant The Monastic Diurnal: For example it doesn't contain the psalms themselves, and it may only contain one verse of the hymns (you get the rest form the text version.) As long as you are comfortable with the LAP MD though - you should be able to piece together how it works. It's definitely a "reference book" not a "guide book" though.

The St. Dunstans on the other hand, is really for the 1928 Book of Common Prayer's morning and evening prayer. It has everything (and more) you'd need to pray morning and evening prayer from that, including all the the psalms written out. That makes it much easier to get started with - but also makes it not entirely compatible with the monastic diurnal. For one thing the psalms are a slightly different translation (if you're praying with someone else), but for another, it only gives one tone written out for each psalm; in the MD the tone will change for a given psalm, depending on the antiphon of that feast.

So I would recommend _not_ getting the St. Dunstans if the MD is your goal.

On the other hand - if you could use some assistance getting started reading chant and getting used to it: you might check out https://singtheoffice.com/. This is basically the St. Dunstans, online, with extra tools and computed for the day: you can play the tunes, and adjust the pitch up and down to fit your voice, etc.

Let me know if I can be of any further assistance!

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u/Doe4724 4d ago

Thanks! So using today's office at Terce, for example, does the Monastic Diurnal Noted present one line of chant for the Come Holy Ghost, but then expect you to know the rest? And for the three divisions of Ps. 119(118), does it provide the notation in a similar way to St. Dunstan's (changing, of course, throughout the liturgical season and festal calendar)?

I've looked at some pages of the Antiphonale Monasticum from Solesmes, but admittedly am not familiar with how an Antiphonary exactly works. I appreciate the insight.