Cathedral Rituals and Chanting Practices among the Medieval Orthodox Slavs - Kondakarnoie Pienie

The results of this exercise in comparative palaeography are limited and inconclusive. At the same time, the study has succeeded in placing the select repertory in its proper liturgical and historical context, posing convincing answers to some long standing questions.

This study explores Kondakarnoie Pienie, a musical phenomenon that flourished in Kievan Rus' from the 11th-13th centuries and is preserved in only five manuscripts. Stimulated by the global digitization initiatives undertaken by the major holdings East and West, previously inaccessible primary source material has come available. As a result the current investigation is a reassessment of earlier work accomplished. It addresses aspects of musical palaeography, liturgical context and function, and performance practice. The music examined is the chant cycles for the Forefeast, Christmas and Epiphany celebrations, a substantial body of comparable musical material that furnishes explicit evidence of the appropriation of Byzantine cathedral chanting practices by the medieval Slavs.

Autorentext

Gregory Myers holds a MLIS degree and a PhD. in historical musicology from the University of British Columbia. An independent scholar, publisher, translator and bibliographer, Myers specializes in the music of Eastern Europe, specifically Russia and the Balkans, and researches, publishes and lectures on issues of medieval music (Byzantium and the Slavs) and the post-World War II musical developments of these countries. Myers has held research fellowships at the Moscow State Conservatory, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library in Washington DC, Ohio State University, the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and recently, the Center for Advanced Study in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Inhalt

Sigla Introduction Brief Historical Overview: Slavia Orthodoxa Kievan Rus' Music The State of Byzantine Music at the End of the 10th Century; Its Slavic Reception The Mechanics of Kondakarnoie Pienie: The Fostering of a Local Tradition Liturgical Excurses and Context: The Byzantine Cathedral Ritual among the Slavs Liturgical Sources: Menaion and Typikon A Brief Survey Hymnography On the Continuing Role of Oral Tradition in Chant Transmission: An Enduring Impediment to the Practical Reconstruction of the Repertory Liturgical Discourse on the Sung Numbers Performance, Liturgical Placement and Historical Context of the Sung Numbers Palaeography, Reconstruction and Transcription: An Introduction Methodology; Notational Correlative or Melodic Equivalent? Modality Musical Excurses and Analyses The Effectiveness of the Counterpart Transcription Method Conclusions. Appendix I: Texts and Translations Appendix II: Concordance of Chants and Their Incipits Bibliography Index of Proper Names Subject Index.