# On the "Canticum" usage **URL:** \ **Category:** Community Standards\ **Created:** [October 28, 2026, 9:22pm UTC](https://gregobase.discourse.group/t/on-the-canticum-usage/16 "2026-10-28T21:22:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xmarteo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/gregobase.discourse.group/xmarteo/32/10_2.png) [@xmarteo](https://gregobase.discourse.group/u/xmarteo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 9:22pm UTC](https://gregobase.discourse.group/t/on-the-canticum-usage/16/1 "2026-10-28T21:22:07Z")
Currently there are two types of scores filed under “Canticum”: - Canticles in the liturgical sense, i.e. texts that work like a psalm but are not taken from the psalms - Peri-liturgical chants in the form of refrain and verses, e.g. Kunc’s Christus Vincit. Do we keep things this way or should we distinguish? ---
**Author:** ![MRoth1910](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/gregobase.discourse.group/mroth1910/32/14_2.png) [@MRoth1910](https://gregobase.discourse.group/u/MRoth1910)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2026, 6:29pm UTC](https://gregobase.discourse.group/t/on-the-canticum-usage/16/2 "2026-10-31T18:29:59Z")
distinguish, at least for metadata/indexing purposes. Something annotated Canticum in a liturgical book that’s found under Varia should be there for the purposes of Gregobase IMHO. That might make display complicated. ---
**Author:** ![xmarteo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/gregobase.discourse.group/xmarteo/32/10_2.png) [@xmarteo](https://gregobase.discourse.group/u/xmarteo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2026, 6:31pm UTC](https://gregobase.discourse.group/t/on-the-canticum-usage/16/3 "2026-10-31T18:31:55Z")
> Something annotated Canticum in a liturgical book that’s found under Varia should be there Should be where - under Canticum in Gregobase, or under Varia? I sure would like to keep the Varia Gregobase category as lean as possible (while not multiplying unduly the other categories) ---
**Author:** ![MRoth1910](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/gregobase.discourse.group/mroth1910/32/14_2.png) [@MRoth1910](https://gregobase.discourse.group/u/MRoth1910)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://gregobase.discourse.group/t/on-the-canticum-usage/16/4 "2026-10-31T18:39:12Z")
I think that it should be Varia if that’s where it’s found in the books; it’s not a Canticum in the strict sense. I would say that we need to address the question of adaptations/vernacular/anything not in a printed source from Solesmes, the Vatican, etc.: that needs to go off of the site (my first inclination) or b) in its own category, and Varia is for anything categorized as such in, say, the Liber. (This is not perfect: the Te Deum could be hard to find this way.) ---
**Author:** ![xmarteo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/gregobase.discourse.group/xmarteo/32/10_2.png) [@xmarteo](https://gregobase.discourse.group/u/xmarteo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2026, 8:39pm UTC](https://gregobase.discourse.group/t/on-the-canticum-usage/16/5 "2026-10-31T20:39:08Z")
Some books have something in the “Varia” section in the index just because there is a single piece of a given genre in the book, but that genre is not Varia at all. For instance, the Christus factus est is most certainly a gradual, but the AR1912 lists it under Varia because it does not feature other graduals. The Te Deum is most certainly a hymn, but Graduals list it under Varia because they do not feature other hymns (except Gloria Laus, arguably). As for the issue of adaptation, that its own can of worms. I would do a thread for well-received vernacular adaptations (like P&B), one for homemade adaptations (like the Viet ones) and one for personal compositions. Also one for homemade restitutions of non-liturgical pieces and one for entries that are simplifications of Latin chants. Feel free to create them 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MRoth1910](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/gregobase.discourse.group/mroth1910/32/14_2.png) [@MRoth1910](https://gregobase.discourse.group/u/MRoth1910)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2026, 9:08pm UTC](https://gregobase.discourse.group/t/on-the-canticum-usage/16/6 "2026-10-31T21:08:10Z")
Well, that’s true, but: the Christus factus is (misleadingly) an antiphon in this case (much like the Haec dies is an antiphon) I mean we don’t have to strictly follow the indices but the bottom line for me is that we should exclude hymns that don’t belong to the liturgy as hymns/canticles as such from those that do.