Liturgical Books in the Abbey Library of Sankt Gallen

We recently published Nicola de’ Grandi’s pictures of the abbey of St Gallen in Switzerland, which is home to one of the most important libraries in the world; among other things, it houses several of the oldest manuscripts of Gregorian chant. Much of the collection is now free to consult via the website https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en, which also includes links to the digital collections of numerous other Swiss libraries. Here is a selection of some of the liturgical books which are kept on regular display in the library (under glass, obviously, which makes for less-than-ideal conditions for photography.)

A collection of sequences by Notker Balbus, a.k.a. Blessed Notker the Stammerer (840 ca. - 912), a monk of Sankt Gallen who was traditionally credited with inventing the genre. Manuscript of the mid-11th century.

The oldest tropar, i.e. a collection of tropes of liturgical texts, copied out in the 2nd quarter of the 10th century.

By the middle of the 11th century, the number of these was greatly reduced at San Gallen; this manuscript contains the ones that were retained, generally the more elaborate ones.

A manuscript of the mid-13th century, brought to Sankt Gallen from the cathedral of Lausanne, with several examples of two-voiced harmony from the cathedral of Paris, where the choir masters were experimenting with this then-new technique.

A manuscript of instruction on how to chant from roughly the same period, which among other things, enjoins the monks not to “neigh like donkeys, or bleat like sheep, or sound like herdsmen”, with threats of sever penalties for doing so.

A 13th century collection of processional chants, with the original box made to protect it from the elements in case it should be raining during the procession.

Another tropar, of the mid-11th century,

An antiphonary made by a monk of Sankt Gallen named Dominic Feustlin in 1759.

A Vesperal produced by two monks of the abbey in the later 18th century; the book contains only the intonations sung by individual members of the choir. This was the last musical manuscript to be produced at Sankt Gallen before the monastic community was suppressed by the government in 1798.

An illustration in a chant manuscript of the very end of the 10th century, which shows Pope Gregory the Great dictating to a scribe the chants which he is composing by divine inspiration, symbolized by the dove perched on his shoulder and whispering into his ear. 

A manuscript open to part of the life of St Gregory the Great by John the Deacon (ca. 875), one of the texts which describes the traditional role of that Pope in the composition of the Roman Church’s liturgical chant. 

Two pages of the Hartker antiphonary, the oldest known manuscript with neumed notation for the chants of the Divine Office, ca. 1000 A.D.

Another book of Notker’s tropes, ca. 930.

A Mass antiphonary from the first half of the 10th century.

This is one of the oldest manuscript examples of a cantatorium, a book with the parts for the soloist who leads the chants of the Mass, dated to the very late ninth century, or first quarter of the 10th.   

A treatise by a monk of Sankt Gallen named Mauritius Enck (died 1575), written in defense of polyphonic music, which was much criticized in some quarters during the early years of the Counter-Reformation.

A volume of instruction for the music to be executed on particular days, which also includes a catalog of the many musical instruments used at the monastery, especially on major feast days.

Part of a diary by a monk of nearby Rheinau Abbey, Blasius Huntinger (1762-1826), who came to Sankt Gallen in 1785 to study, including descriptions of the abbey’s musical life.