Welcome to Hungarian Chant Database

Hungarian Chant Database (HCD) provides access to material representing the outcome of several decades of chant research in Hungary. Based on the large microfilm collection of the Hungarian Institute of Musicology (founded by Janka Szendrei), the site contains information on the majority of Hungarian liturgical sources and a large number of comparative sources from other parts of Europe (mainly Central Europe). The material partly represents the results of earlier research, partly serves as well-organized source material for further research, accessible without restriction. Hungarian chant studies has followed several paths, they have mostly been organized around two main projects, one for the Office, and another for the Mass repertories.


The Office – CAO-ECE

CAO-ECE (Corpus Antiphonalium Officii - Ecclesiarum Centralis Europae) was designed to investigate and compare medieval Central European Office repertories, to prepare and publish their inventories. The chant repertories of the sources are arranged according to a standardized liturgical system, in order to make them comparable. The chief aims of the project are to identify the crystallized medieval office traditions and to investigate the changes of these traditions in time and interrelationships. The site offers a lot of inventories of both single sources and traditions, moreover, it makes possible to compare them on the fly. -> read more


The Mass – Gradualia

The aim of the project is to analyze and compare the Mass repertory of individual sources, local uses and different traditions. Similarly to CAO-ECE the contents of the Mass sources are scrutinized according to a fixed numbering system. However, in keeping with the structural differences between Mass and Office, a new system was designed for Gradualia. This part of HCD contains many detailed inventories of Mass sources (Graduals and Missals) and makes them comparable in an interactive way. -> read more



HCD Team