Russian Chant

Russian Chant is a general term that describes the liturgical singing found in the Russian Orthodox Church (and related Churches), and which incorporates a range of indigenous chant forms, and in the past few centuries Russian choral music.  Russian chant began with the arrival of Byzantine chant into Kievan Rus in the 10th Century, which in turn gave rise to a variety of chant forms based on the Byzantine original, but incorporating uniquely Russian elements and even folk music forms. Most of these were forcefully replaced by Russian choral music following the European-oriented “reforms” of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

OVERVIEW

Although Rus accepted Christianity from Greek-speaking Constantinople, and with it came Byzantine liturgical chant, that was by no means the only influence. To Prince Vladimir was sent Metropolitan Mikhail from Bulgaria along with four bishops, numerous priests, deacons, and emestvenniki (singers ‘from among the Slavs.’) Church singing may thus have had a Slavic influence from the beginning; in any case, it rapidly took on a Russian style. Though the aristocracy were ministered to by Greek clergy, the people were guided by Slavonic-speaking Bulgarian clergy (Church Slavonic is to this day the liturgical language of the Russian and other Slavic Orthodox Churches). There arose from this mixture a peculiarly Russian kind of neumatic chant, called znamenny, from the word znamia, meaning sign or neume.

Parallel with znamenny there grew up a second kind of musical notation, now called kondakarny, or kondakarian, differing from znamenny both graphically and in the kind of text which it was employed to accompany. The evidence from the few manuscripts that survive is that kondakarian singing, highly melismatic in style, was employed for the performance of kondakia, lengthy homilies constructed from a prooemion or koukoulion (“opening stanza”) followed by a series of up to twenty-four oikoi, stanzas ending with the same refrain as the first. Recent research indicates that this notation was modelled on that used in Byzantium during the 10th and 11th centuries. This style disappeared during the 14th century.

The 15th century was a period of great expansion and tremendous creativity in the field of liturgical singing in Russia. Moscow began to grow while Kiev declined, never fully recovering from Mongol occupation. Russia became autocephalous following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, and took on the role of leader in eastern Christendom. The liturgical and artistic expansion which accompanied this emancipation, beginning with the great flourishing of musicians in Novgorod between about 1480 and 1564, and then continuing at the Imperial Court when Ivan IV (“The Terrible”) brought these singers to Moscow, tended to emphasize national characteristics. For liturgical chant, this meant that the repertoire of signs for znamenny increased, and manuals (azbuki) began to be written explaining the neumatic system.

Znamenny chant was now at its height. It developed to the point that each of the eight tones had its own distinct musical expression. Each tone is constructed from the juxtaposition of different musical motifs proper to it, the popevki, of varying length and elaboration. Znamenny melodies are divided into three groups according to their place in the liturgy. Bolshoi rospev, or “great chant”, was used on great feasts as well as during the most important moments of the office. Maly rospev, “lesser chant”, was used during the weekday offices. The remaining chants form a third category called znamenny rospev, “neumatic chant”.

During the course of the later 16th century there developed a new kind of chant derived from znamenny, called putevoy, literally “chant of the road”, or “chant of the way”. It differed in having a new notation and in employing a more complex rhythmic structure. Parallel with this there appeared yet another kind of chant, but standing outside the system of the eight tones of the oktoikhos. This chant is known as demestvenny, the name deriving from demestik, the chief chanter of the chapel; its golden age was during the 17th century. The system of melodic construction is similar to that of znamenny, based on the popevki, but there is a fundamental difference in its independence from the oktoikhos, which means that its melodic and modal scope is expanded. In addition, even more than in the putevoy repertory, there is a tendency towards rhythmic complication and the use of much shorter note values. The correspondence between the spirit, if not the letter, of this repertory and the earlier kondakarian chant is striking, and it too was probably also performed by soloists.

During the course of the 17th century there appeared three new types of liturgical chant. Firstly the Kievan chant, in essence a drastically simplified form of znamenny, then the so-called “Bulgarian” chant, highly melodic and rhythmically supple; and thirdly what are known as “Greek” chants, originating in southern Russia, and bearing evidence of folk influence. The straightforward melodic character of these latter made them ideal for harmonized performance, and indeed all three of these repertories are in use today in harmonized versions in the Russian Church, the basis of the repertoire which most western listeners will immediately characterize as typical of Russian sacred music. The precise origins of the latter two repertories is still the subject of controversy.

The history of Russian sacred music changes direction from the 17th century, becoming subject to a series of western influences (the Polish-Ukranian period, the Italian period, the German period) until in the later years of the 19th century Prince Vladimir Feodorovich Odoievsky (1804-1869) initiated the return to Russia’s liturgical and musical heritage. It would not be until after the lingering effects of the Revolution could be overcome the chilling effects of the Russian Revolution could this work continue.  In recent times a revival has begun in Russia to explore it’s history and tradition of early chant forms, and to incorporate them in to contemporary Russian choral music.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

Liturgica.com offers the following additional content on this subject:

1.  Early Orthodox Chant and Music

2. Words and Music in Orthodox Worship (by David Drillock)

3. An Outline History of Russian Sacred Music (by Ivan Moody)

4. Znamenny Chant

5. Lesser Known Varieties of Russian Chant

6. Development of Manuscript Notation

The Liturgica.com Web Store offers:

1. Over 100 CDs of Russian Chant and Choral Music both in Church Slavonic and English  Old Roman Chant

2. A wide range of books on the development of liturgical worship

3. A selection of books on chant and its development

4. Books on iconography

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