The Znamenny Chant

The Znamenny Chant
Author(s): Joan L. Roccasalvo

Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. 2 (1990), pp. 217-241
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/742190
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The Znamenny Chant
JOAN L. ROCCASALVO
STUDIES in the culture of ancient Rus' recently gained impetus

from Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and pere-
stroika as well as from the millennium celebration in 1988
commemorating the baptism of the Kievan Rus' peo
Kievan Rus' was a loosely knit federation of East Slavic
principalities.) This new openness and renewal extends to the
spiritual and cultural heritage of the people whose ancestors
originated in this federation-Russians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians,
and Rusins (Carpatho-Rusins)-especially to their sacred music:
the liturgical chant tradition, the basic stratum of which is the
Znamenny chant.
Fifty years ago, in 1940, The Musical Quarterly published a
three-part article by Alfred J. Swan (1890-1970) entitled "The
Znamenny Chant of the Russian Church."1 Throughout his life,
Swan studied the sources of the Northern tradition, better known
as the Great Russian tradition, and his three-part article
summarized those findings. In this article I provide an overview of
the origins of the Znamenny chant tradition from its early stages to
a twentieth-century collection of chants still in use among the
Rusins (also known as Carpatho-Russians as well as -Rusins), whose
homeland today is in the Ukraine and eastern Czechoslovakia. The
Rusins are the last descendants of the Kievan Rus' to retain the
name "Rus."' My article represents scholarship undertaken
the last six years and points to a need for continued study of
Znamenny chant.
'Alfred J. Swan, "The Znamenny Chant of the Russian Church," The Musical Quar
(Apr., July, Oct. 1940), pp. 232-243, 365-379, 529-545.
217
218 The Musical Quarterly
Part One: The Chant Tradition of the Rus' Peopl

Ninth to Fourteenth Centuries
The people of Kievan Rus' became acquainted with Christianity

the ninth century through the influence of the Moravian
missionaries SS. Cyril and Methodius, and in the tenth through
efforts of Princess Olga, wife of Prince Igor.2 However, Christianity
did not become the official religion of the Rus' people until th
conversion of Vladimir in 988. His marriage to Anna, Byzantin
princess and sister of emperors Basil II (976-1025) and
Constantine VIII (1025-28), led him to Eastern rather than to
Western Christianity. Byzantine Greek priests were sent to baptize
the people of Kiev, and, in the view of many, this event represents
the greatest cultural achievement of the Byzantine Empire: the
bringing of Christianity to the Slavs.
Vladimir's son, Yaroslav the Wise (1019-54), had Greek books
translated into the vernacular and some Slavonic books, already
accessible from the southern Slavs, copied.3 The influence of
Mount Athos on the development of Rus' chant cannot be over-
estimated. By the twelfth century, Mount Athos had monasteries of
Bulgarian, Georgian, Serbian, and Rus' monks who lived side by
side with their Greek counterparts. Although they engaged in rich
musical exchange, the Greek influence is particularly noteworthy,
and the earliest Rus' chants show a close resemblance to Byzantine
models.4 Approximately fifty manuscripts remain from the eleventh
to the middle of the fourteenth centuries.5 However, paleographers
have failed in their attempts to transcribe most of these
manuscripts because of insufficient knowledge of early Byzantine
notation.6 Hymns to Rus' saints also appeared at this time, the
music of which still depends on the structure of Greek models.7
Development of the Znamenny chant in Rus' moved from
Kiev in two directions: to the southwest, later to Byelostock and
2 Francis Dvornik, The Slavs: Their Early History and Civilization (Boston: American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1956), pp. 80-102, 199.
3 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 6th ed., 1980, henceforth abbreviated
as NG. "Neumatic Notations: Byzantine and Slavonic Notations," VI, by Milog Velimirovid, p.
149.
4 Milo9 Velimirovic, Byzantine Elements in Early Slavic Chant: The Heirmologion.

Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae. Subsidia IV (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1960), pp. 15-16.
5 Velimirovie, NG, "Russian and Slavonic Church Music," p. 338.
6 Velimirovi6, Byzantine Elements, p. 18.
' Velimirovi6, "Russian and Slavonic Church Music," p. 338.
Znamenny Chant 219
Novgorod to the north, and still later to Mo

At first, the Rus' clergy and cantors sang l
Byzantine chant books and from chant book
southern Slavs-Bulgaria and Serbia. The d
Novgorod as key centers in the developmen
chant has been discussed by I. Voznesensky
Gardner:
The chant tradition of southwest Russia and Great Russia has as its basis one
principal source, the Znamenny chant transmitted through the Greek
Slavonic monks from Mt. Athos. Until the seventeenth century both in the nort
east and southwest the Znamenny chant was sung with the same staffless sign
the chants were not identical, then they were melodically very close.8
There was a time when the chant used in Kiev was just like that of Lvov [Lviv] a
of Mukachevo. At that time this chant was transmitted to Novgorod the Gre
In the fourteenth century the number of manuscript sourc

decreased considerably. The reason appears to be twofold:
demise of Kiev as a cultural capital, resulting in weakened ties w
Byzantium, the matrix of Russian inspiration and creativity; a
Mongolian domination (1240-1480), further retarding cultur
progress and isolating Russia's contact with the outside worl
During this period, some type of notational change took pl
Although the basic neumes were still recognizable, a transit
occurred in the calligraphy from capital to small letters,
changes may be observed in textual musical appearances." As ye
there is no proof of change in the meaning of the notational sig
during this period.2
Fifteenth Century
With the end of the Tatar invasions at the close of the fifteenth
century, the formerly unimportant province of Muscovy rose to
power both politically and religiously. In spiritual matters, Kievan
Rus' had always modeled itself on the Greek patriarchate, for the
8 I. Voznesensky, Tserkovnoye penie pravoslavnoi Yugo-zapadnoi Rusi [Church singing in

Orthodox Southwestern Rus'], 2nd edition (Moscow: Jurgenson, 1898), p. 14.
9 Johann von Gardner, "A Few Words on Church Chant in Carpatho-Russia," Orthodox
Life XXX, No. 1 (Jan.-Feb., 1980): 46.
10 Michael T. Florinsky, Russia: A History and an Interpretation, vol. 1 (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1947), pp. 114, 122-24.
" Velimirovid, Byzantine Elements, p. 18.
12 Velimirovi6, "Russian and Slavonic Church Music," p. 338.
patriarch of Constantinople was also the patriarch o

1439, when the Metropolitan Isidore of Kiev accept
of the Council of Florence to unite with Rome, Mus
follow suit.13 In 1448, Muscovy achieved administr
dence from its model by electing and consecrating
politan, Jonah.14 The only repository of true Christian
hands of the Russian Church, with Muscovy proclai
Third Rome.15 The fall of Constantinople in 1453
possibility of future Byzantine intervention. Yet the l
influence inspired Muscovy to focus its attentio
tradition of arts, letters, and music."16
When Kiev fell in the mid-thirteenth century
leading political center in the north, transferred its
city of Vladimir and, with the latter's decline, to Musc
Muscovy annexed the wealthy city of Novgorod and
latter's chant tradition, which had begun to dev
from the chant in southwestern lands-by now
Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. Summarizing
conditions, Gardner reflects:
Many years passed, bringing Mongol and Hungarian yokes, No

from Kiev, Kiev from Carpatho-Russia. And in all provinces,
develop according to local taste and characteristics. Each gener
passed on the tradition of the chant to the next; but at the
introduced something of its own .. . The chants were already s
the Southwestern, Kievan (more accurately: the Kiev-Lv
Northern (Novgorod-Muscovite ... chant) were nothing more
of one and the same chant.'"
The Slavonic chant in the north was again insulated from

outside sources. During the fifteenth century, the first list of
neumes appeared, and, with them, colorful names such as "falcon"
or "stuffed cabbage."19 The terms znamya and kriuk (meaning "sign"
and "hook," respectively) may have originated at this time.
Eventually, they came to be designated in English as Znamenny
13 Florinsky, Russia: A History and an Interpretation, pp. 140-41.

14 Ibid., p. 141.
15 Ibid., p. 287.
16 Ibid., pp. 141-51.
17 Ibid., p. 122.
8 Gardner, "A Few Words on Church Chant," pp. 46-47.
19 Velimirovi6, "Byzantine and Slavonic Notations," p. 150.
Znamenny Chant 221
chant or "chanting by signs." 20 Many lists

(azbuki) developed in the late fifteenth centu
melodies notated with these signs had ac
from their Byzantine models.2
Sixteenth Century: Novgorod-Muscovite Cha

Sixteenth-century Moscow enjoyed a "go
prolific musical creativity that resulted in
manuscripts.2" At the close of the century,
characteristics had crystallized in the North
1. Russian neumatic notation differed co
earlier Byzantine signs.
2. The Znamenny (stolp) notation under
changing in some ways its formation, arrang
3. The number of trained singers increased
set the stage for vocal display; simple chants
addition to the Znamenny chant, they sang
more suited to their musical skill.25
4. Neumatic notation became increasingly difficult to read and

transmit because of its growing complexity. Furthermore, wide
differences existed among texts and melodies so that, even in the
same church, it became impossible to sing using two or even three
books.26
5. Ivan IV the "Terrible" (1547-84) transferred the famous

Novogrod singing school to Moscow.2 From this school came profes-
sional musicians including Feodor the Christian, Noss, Lukoshko,
0 Velimirovid, "Russian and Slavonic Church Music," p. 338.
1 For one catalog of these neumes see Gardner, Bogosluzhebnoye pienie russkoi
pravoslavnoi tserkvi [Liturgical singing of the Russian Orthodox church], 2 vols. (Jordanville,
NY: Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Monastery, 1977, 1981) 1:510-11.
22 Velimirovi6, "Byzantine and Slavonic Notations," p. 150.
23 Velimirovid, "Russian and Slavonic Church Music," p. 338. See also Alfred J. Swan,
Russian Music (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1973), p. 29.
24Margaret Ditterich, "Untersuchungen zum altrussichen Akzent anhand von
Kirchengesangshandschriften." Slavische Beitrdge 86 (Munich, 1975), p. 138.
25 Demestvenny chant is a combination of a graphic sign-put' and stolp notation. It is
complex to read because the combined signs form what appear to be entirely new ones. See
Gardner, Liturgical singing in the Russian Orthodox church, I: 503.
26 I. Voznesensky, Osmoglasnye rospievy posliednikh viekov pravoslavnoi Russkoi tserkvi [The
eight tone chants of the last three centuries of the Russian Orthodox church], 4 vols. (Kiev:
S. V. Kulzhenio, 1888-89), 1:4. Points 1-4 represent a summary of Velimirovid's two articles
"Russian and Slavonic Church Music," p. 338, and "Neumatic Notations," p. 150.
7 N. P. Brill, History of Russian Church Music: 988-1917 (Bloomington, Ind.: By the
Author, 1980), p. 85.
Loggin (or Longin), and Shaidur. Abbot Loggin o

monastery knew up to seventeen different chants a
to ten chants.28 Although these chants had the sam
character, wide differences arose among the singer
new chants and recomposed the old ones as well
came together, much quarreling took place regardi
of executing the music.30
6. During the reign of Ivan IV, the Imperial Ch
"Singing Deacons," founded under Ivan III (1462-
a wide reputation."3
7. Early polyphony or strochnoye penie, written
notation, appeared around 1550.32 The first par
black, while the others are marked in red. The part
four in number: a) alto, tenor, bass; b) alto, tenor 1 and 2, and
bass; and c) alto, tenor, and bass 1 and 2."
Sixteenth Century: Southwestern Rus' (Kiev-Lviv-Subcarpathian

Rus')
While the chant traditions of both north and south (Novgorod-
Moscow and Kiev-Lviv-Subcarpathian Rus') came from the same
roots, political and cultural conditions caused their common
heritage to develop in separate ways.34 At the Union of Brest
(1596), the Orthodox bishops shifted their allegiances to Rome,
yet they retained the Eastern rite and culture. Until 1654, all of
Southwestern Rus' was located within the bounds of the Latin rite
commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania and closer to Western sources
and cultural influences. At the same time the Rus' people h
contact with Greeks, Romanians, and Balkan Slavs, more so than
did Moscow, their northern neighbor. In fact, musical exchange
took place between Southwestern Rus', the southern Slavonic
lands, and the other Balkan countries from the middle of the six-
28 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:3.

" Velimirovid, "Russian and Slavonic Church Music," p. 338.
0 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:4. For an account of one attack on church
musicians of the time see Vladimir Morosan, "Penie and Musikiia: Aesthetic Changes in
Russian Liturgical Singing During the Seventeenth Century," St. Vladimir's Theological
Quarterly XXIII, 3/4 (1979): 166-67.
31 Brill, History of Russian Church Music, p. 85.
32 Velimirovid, "Russian and Slavonic Church Music," p. 340.
33 Raina Palikarova-Verdeil, La Musique chez bulgares et les russes du ix aus xiv siecle,
Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae, Subsidia III (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1953), p. 75.
4 Voznesensky, Church singing in Orthodox Southwestern Rus', p. 14.
Znamenny Chant 223
teenth century on."3 Southwestern Rus' lay

rich yet vastly divergent sources of liturgic
of Eastern monastic chant and the treasury
music. Both influences affected the chant tradition of South-
western Rus'.
The Eastern Influence. The long-standing religious tensions

between the Orthodox and Catholics in Poland led to the
establishment of brotherhood schools (bratstva) as early
an effort to match the success of Jesuit education in Po
fraternities provided a thorough Orthodox religious edu
their youths and concentrated on developing Ukraini
pride. The main brotherhoods, founded by the mona
Lviv, Vilnius, Lutsk, and Kiev,36 placed great emphasis
singing and the preparation of candidates for liturgical m
The brotherhoods understood the importance of ed
liturgical music, for if their youths were expected to sing i
they had to be taught in school. In the mid-sixteenth ce
Lviv brotherhood sent singers to Moldavia to study
Serbian chant," and Metropolitan Arseny from Greece t
the Lviv brotherhood school for two years.39 More
brotherhood schools of Southwestern Rus' were able to borrow
south Slavonic chants from the Serbs and Bulgarians. S
contacts between these other cultures and Galicia, Volhynia, a
Subcarpathian Rus' continued even until the eighteenth century
Training in church singing was systematically organized
accomplished according to textbook manuals using the Kie
notation known throughout Southwestern Rus'.41 The abo
mentioned brotherhoods enjoyed such financial stability that t
could provide some financial assistance to their pupils
teaching personnel.42
35 Michael Hrushevsky, A History of Ukraine (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Pr

1941), pp. 121, 144.
1 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:9. The Jesuits also opened schools in the
of Vilnius (1590), Lviv, and Lutsk (1605), Kiev (1647). See Hrushevsky, pp. 201-05.
37 Gardner, Liturgical singing of the Russian Orthodox church, 11:20.
3 Ibid., II:23-24.
39 Ibid., 11:26.
40 bid., I:25.
4 Voznesensky says that the Psalter of John Hus contained the staff system of nota
and was already known in Slavonic lands in the second half of the sixteenth century. See
Eight tone chants, 1:20.
Influence of the Renaissance. From the time of Poland's conver-

sion to Roman Christianity in the tenth century, Western mod
provided the structure for Polish liturgical singing.43 In
sixteenth century, the vocal polyphony of the Franco-Netherla
school flourished in Poland, and this period came to be known
the golden age of Polish music.44 In the late Renaissance
baroque periods, Polish composers preferred the Italian styl
homophony and cori spezzati (divided choirs), although they d
not completely avoid the intricate polyphony of the early Ren
sance.45 The Italian style of part singing also found its way into
Orthodox churches of Southwestern Rus'. In the sixteenth cen-
tury, part singing was conceived chordally; it was one of the me
of resisting the spread of the Catholic Union, "the sweet sounds
[whose] musical organs fascinated the Orthodox."46 Choirs
pupils from the brotherhood schools sang music arranged in fou
five, six, and even eight parts with remarkable skill, and oc
sionally they were attracted by polyphonic choruses to joi
Catholic choirs.47 Western singing proved irresistible, and "ever
one was forced to accept this liturgical practice."48 Within a sho
time, the Orthodox adopted Italian part singing in the Polish sty
The eight tone system and the Znamenny chant, sung mono
phonically or harmonized, were, however, retained.49 Books
liturgical chant called irmologia (similar in content to the Libe
usualis in the Latin rite) were notated on a five-line staff (instead
the four-line staff used for notating Gregorian chant). The
irmologia contained Greek, Serbian, and Bulgarian chants
addition to the Znamenny.
Musical elements that crystallized in the chant repertoire o
the Southwestern Rus' may be summarized as follows:
1. Greek, Serbian, and Bulgarian chants entered a repertoi

that already consisted of traditional Znamenny and Kievan cha
43 Franciszka Merlan, "Music in Hungary, Poland, and the Adriatic Coastal Areas of th
Southern Slavs," in Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance, rev. ed. (W. W. Norton
Company, Inc., 1959), p. 741.
"Roman Totenberg and Gustave Reese, "Music in Poland: The Sixteenth Century,"
Reese, Music in the Renaissance, pp. 748-49.
45 Ibid., pp. 752-53.
46Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:30.
48Ibid.
49 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:30.
Znamenny Chant 225
systems (the latter originating in Kiev, particu

of the Caves).
2. Only one chant book, called irmologio
sung during the liturgical year, was used. (I
irmologion was a collection of the most frequen
In the Muscovite tradition, several books wer
3. In the seventeenth century, square n
Kievan notation, were adopted on a five-l
neumatic notation was abandoned.5"
4. Orthodox brotherhoods, responsible for liturgical mu

education in Southwestern Rus', modeled their choral part mu
on Polish Renaissance part music.52 In addition to composed ch
music, they used line singing. 3 The text was placed beneath th
lines of neumes. The middle one (put) was written in red
provided the melody, while the upper (verkh) and the lower (vn
both in black, normally indicated the fifth or the octave at t
accented points in the text.
Early Part Singing

Line or part singing, used both in the Muscovite and in the Sou
western Rus' tradition, did not imitate the learned and com
polyphony of the Franco-Netherlands school of the sixte
century.54 Swan theorized that folk singing and church singi
were intimately related and the type of harmony used in folk
church singing was one and the same.5 The Russians (in t
Northern-Muscovite chant tradition) improvised a popular pol
phony; Guido Adler called it "heterophony ... a free combinati
of several melodic lines that gravitate towards one final suppor
Swan rephrased Adler's definition: "Heterophony is a princ
melody improvised simultaneously by several singers, retaining
0 See also in Oliver Strunk, Essays on Music in the Byzantine World (New York: W
Norton and Company, 1977), p. 302.
51 Gardner, Liturgical singing of the Russian Orthodox church, 11:35, 123. Beca
Kievan, Greek, and Bulgarian chants were written on the five-line staff in Southwestern
paleographical problems concerning their notation did not arise. See also Swan,
Znamenny Chant of the Russian Church," Apr. 1940, p. 237.
5 Ibid., 11:20.
5 Mostly chordal and/or simple polyphony.
55 Swan, "Notes on the Old Liturgical Chants of the Russian Church and the Ru
Folk Song," Orthodox Life, 4/106 (July-Aug. 1967), p. 27.
56 Swan, "The Nature of the Russian Folk song," The Musical Quarterly (Oct. 1943), p.
main outline in each voice, yet showing enough in

places to result in two- and three- and even four-p
How or when part singing reached Moscow and Sou
is still open to conjecture. It may have come fro
where contacts with the West were normally carrie
and then perhaps further simplified and adapted to
taste; or c) folk music where various pitched v
tessituras more suited to their vocal range as in h
More than one influence may have overlapped in e
Seventeenth Century: The Need for Reform in Mos

Two concurrent circumstances shaped the growth,
cisely, the transformation of the Muscovite chant
seventeenth century. The first was the reign o
Mikhailovich (1645-76) and the patriarchate of N
the second, Moscow's annexation of Kiev and Ukrainian lands east
of the Dnieper.
First Half of the Seventeenth Century. By the early seventeenth
century, chant melodies had assumed an unwieldy, complex form.
Phrases had grown excessively long by melismatic accretions (fita
melodies), other embellishments, and the repetition of vowels.5"
Moreover, neumatic signs were found not only over vowels but also
over the Russian half vowels b and b. The sign b was sung as "eh";
the sign b was sung as "uh." The practice of vocalizing on half
vowels was known as khomoniya. The examples below show the
successive transformations of one phrase:
from rqe-TBO-pO-KO-Hb-.ub-..Ibii
I I .I-p- I Ab-Hb-Cbb
I I oc-Bx-IIa-Tb-ca
I
to qe-TBo-po-KO-He-4e-uibIN
SLJ L I L60
to He-TBo-p)o-KO-Hel-HbIii MllIIp
57 Ibid.
58 Swan, "Notes on the Old Liturgical Chants," pp. 29-31.

59 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:6, 12.
60 N. Findeizen, "Ocherki po istorii muziki v Rossii s drevneyshikh vremen do knotsa
XVIII veka" [Studies of the history of music in Russia from ancient times to the end of the
eighteenth centui y] (Moscow and Leningrad, 1928-29), quoted in Palikarova-Verdeil, La
musique chez les bulgares, p. 74.
Znamenny Chant 227
AHecb -in modern-day Russian, one syllable

was pronounced deh-neh-seh (see word under as
This practice was the concern of the various re
seventeenth century. Another abuse, anenaika,
tion of extra syllables having no meaning in t
end of a word for the purposes of vocal display, e
seeeh-niii-yeeeh-yeeeh.62 The length of the m
lengthened the liturgical services (or the rever
to particular measures of church legislation
these melodies and eliminating cumbersome li
The first reform, by Shaidur (1600), was mark
changes:
1. The addition of special signs, called pomiety, placed above the
Znamenny chant to indicate the pitch to which the neume referred.
2. These new signs were marked in red and called cinnobar
notation.
3. The use of a trichord similar to, and perhaps derived from,

the Western hexachord.64
The second reform took place after Moscow annexed the

Ukrainian lands (1654-67).
The Polish Influence. Polish culture began to penetrate the
Russian Orthodox church largely through the efforts of the culti-
vated Peter Mohila [Mogila] (1596-1647), a Moldavian prince.
Educated in Lviv, he later became a monk and superior of the
famous Monastery of the Caves in Kiev. In 1633, he advanced to
the office of metropolitan of Kiev, and he established the Kiev
Academy.
Committed to quality in Orthodox education, Mohila believed
that the only way to achieve such high standards was to adopt
Western methods of education. The Jesuit college in Kiev stood as
his model, and Mohil'a academy quickly rose to be an outstanding
center for studies in Western humanities.65 Moreover, the har-
monized liturgical chant, sung in the Polish style of part singing,
61 Ibid.

63 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:5. The use of anenaika, apparently derived from
Byzantine kalophonic singing, was perceived as an abuse by many; others approved of it.
6 Velimirovi', "Russian and Slavonic Church Music," p. 339.
' L. R. Lewitter, "Poland, the Ukraine and Russia in the Seventeenth Century," The
Slavonic Review, Vol. 27, Nos. 68-69 (Dec. 1948, May 1949): 416-18.
reached new levels of excellence at the Kiev Academ

to the presence of the Kiev brotherhood there.66 Af
tion of the Ukraine, Western culture began to pou
through the wholesale importation of Ukrainian cult
Czar Alexey Mikhailovich and Patriarch Nikon. Hav
his wife to enter a convent, the monk Nikon becam
of the Novgorod Cathedral in 1649.68 There he in
singing, and when, in 1652, he was elected patria
with Alexey's support, he continued to patronize ch
summoning to Moscow the best Kievan singers who
the art of part singing in the brotherhood schools.6
the liturgical singing practice of Southwestern
significant inroads in the North. Purists object
Ukrainian (Polish) style was corrupted by Latinis
Western foreigners with their heretical religion
customs were overtaking Russian [Northern] lands."7
Under Alexey's supervision, Nikon initiated and
a series of extreme and comprehensive reform
practices.71" Because the Divine Liturgy and religio
held a place of particular importance among Eastern rite
Christians, it is not surprising that purists reacted against relin-
quishing what they loved and revered. At the end of the seven-
teenth century, the Muscovite Orthodox church permitted part
singing "even though it was not taken from the Eastern Church."72
However, Nikon did not entirely disregard the monophonic
chant tradition. Indeed, from 1652, he had collected chant books
from Byelorussia and the Ukraine to correct them.73 He had also
intended to create closer and firmer ties with the Greek churches
even though his idea was not supported by his colleagues.74 During
66 NG, s.v. "Kiev," by Aristide Wirsta, p. 58.

67 Lewitter, "Poland, the Ukraine and Russia in the Seventeenth Century," p. 418.
69 Ibid., 11:21.
7o Michael Cherniavsky, "The Old Religion and the New Religion," Slavic Review, Vol. 25,
No. 1 (Mar. 1966), p. 11.
71 Historians have written extensively about these reforms. I discuss only the reforms
dealing with liturgical music.
7 Morosan, "Penie and Musikiia": 174.
73Dmitri Razumovsky, Tserkovnoye penie v Rossii [Church singing in Russia], i-iii
(Moscow, 1867-69), p. 82.
74 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, I:10, 14. Indeed, one of Nikon's reasons for
reforming liturgical books and rites was to establish uniformity with those of the Orthodox
Znamenny Chant 229
his patriarchate, Nikon invited to Moscow

patriarchs, Makarius of Antioch (1648-72
(1645-61), and Paisy of Alexandria (1663-6
an archdeacon of Constantinople, responded
Greek chant to the deacons and subdeaco
Muscovites never adjusted to the enharmon
of the Greeks, whose use of disjunct interv
suit the Russians, well accustomed to diatonic chants. Thus, the
Greek-style chant, derived from the Byzantine Greeks and the
Southwestern Rus', was judiciously adapted to Russian musical
taste." Palikarova-Verdeil states that "the musical collaboration was
produced too late and did not influence the development" of the
liturgical chant in the Northern-Great Russian tradition.78
After Nikon's exile to the Dalekhy monastery in 1666,79 A.
Mezenets, Korenev, and Tikhon Makharevsky continued and com-
pleted the reforms of the 1660s.80 In 1675, N. Diletsky (c. 1630-
1680/90) published a musical grammar summarizing Western
practices of harmonizations including the Venetian polychoral
style of the late Renaissance.8" When he returned to Moscow after
having studied at the Jesuit university at Vilnius in Lithuania, "the
sweet, ingratiating quality of the kants won over the somber, stately
beauty of the old Znamenny canticles."82 These sweeping reforms
were to change the attitude in the Northern tradition toward
liturgical music. Velimirovic summarizes these reforms:
Khomoniya was banned, and orders were issued to correct liturgical books
containing vowels instead of mute letters. Simultaneously the [Znamenny] chant
melodies were adjusted to fit the the new pronunciation. Mezenets and his
commission were concerned with preserving and clarifying the neumatic notation."
Greeks. Patriarch Paisios of Constantinople was in favor of local churches having their own
particular customs provided only that it preserve the purity of Orthodox teaching and the
fundamental dogmatic truths. See Serge A. Zenkovsky, "The Russian Church Schism,"
Russian Review, 16, No. 4 (1957), p. 43.
76 Palikarova-Verdeil, La musique byzantine chez bulgares, p. 74.
77 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:20-21.
78 Palikarova-Verdeil, La musique byzantine chez bulgares, p. 74.
0 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:20-21.
"8 NG, s.v. "Diletsky," by Gerald Seaman, p. 476.
2 Swan, Russian Music, p. 50. Kants were simple melodies, many of which were folk
songs whose three-part song form used Western harmonies. The two upper voices moved in
parallel thirds, leaving the bass to move freely. The texture was usually chordal.
3 Velimirovi', "Russian and Slavonic Church Music," p. 340.
In others words, the old Znamenny chant had t

The Nikonian reform simplified and truncated
Melismas disappeared, melodies were divided int
given symmetrical rhythms. In short, the chants l
identity, and their original contour was mutilated
nition. Yet they continued to be called "Znamenny c
The Old Ritualists (Old Believers) refused to a
style, especially the introduction of composed cho
the liturgical services. They staunchly adhered to t
of the chant repertory handed down from ancient
died for this cause which eventually split the Ru
church by internal schism.
Finding its own chant "monotonous and ridi
Russian Orthodox church not only permitted a
foreign structure, but also allowed composed ch
truncated, drastically watered-down version of
Znamenny chants.85
In 1721, Peter the Great abolished the patriarch
the Holy Synod.86 Byshkovsky, the head technician
Synodal printing office, and some singers from
Synodal School who had preserved many of the
scripts from the time of Mezenets (1660s), arrang
Znamenny melodies printed in five books in 17
Octoikh, Triod, Prazdnikhy, and Obikhod.87 Swan emp
achievement-preserving the chant-is one of the fe
the Russian eighteenth century. Yet these melod
simplified versions of an older simplification
completely reconstructed.88 Commenting on the M
editions of 1772, Voznesensky says that the chant
erably shortened and were cut even more in actua
elaborate melodies of the stichiry, troparia, and par
"went completely out of use with the exception of o
ples.'"89 These eighteenth-century versions of seven
8 Palikarova-Verdeil, La musique byzantine chez bulgares, pp. 74-75.

85 Ibid., p. 74.
8 Gerald Seaman, History of Russian Music (Oxford: Basil Blackwell,
87 The Synodal editions of 1772 did not include the Triod. It was p
nineteenth century. See also Gardner, Liturgical singing of the Russi
II: 178-79.
88 Swan, Russian Music, p. 34.

89 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:15. Stichiry (like Latin antiphons) are verses
Znamenny Chant 231
reforms were "definitely designed for simp

Eventually, the Russian Orthodox church
harmonized Italianate singing executed by
excluded the general masses of worshipers f
the singing and prepared them for passivity
boredom and shifted the center of attention from an interior
attitude of liturgical prayer sung by everyone to an external
ture, that of focusing on aesthetic requirements."9 The po
reflection by Swan best describes the focus of the first sectio
this article:
The estrangement of Russian church music from its proper and legitimate
source-the znamenny chant-which began with the introduction of the
seventeenth century innovations, forms one of the great and tragic enigmas of all
Russian music. It is as if a broad current of the purest spring water were suddenly
to disappear underground and continue flowing beneath the surface. Thus
anyone suspecting its hidden flow had first to shut himself off from all that he
could hear in churches and even monasteries and dig down into the soil in order
to partake of the crystalline liquid.92
While the indigenous chant seemed to disappear altogether in

the cultural centers of the North, it continued to survive on the
periphery, for example, in monastic communities. Subcarpathian
Rus' represents one of these marginal areas where the ancient
chant penetrated the spirit of one of the peoples originating in
Kievan Rus'-the Carpatho-Rusins.
Part Two: Notated Staff Irmologia of Southwestern Rus
The notated staff irmologia of eighteenth-century Southwestern

Rus' represent a written record of the Znamenny chant tradition
that once belonged to all the people of Rus', of both the Northern
and Southwestern traditions. The second part of this article
attempts to link the two earliest printed irmologia of the eighteenth
sung after the verses of a psalm. Troparia (like the Latin collect or prayer) are stanzas, largely
scriptural, summarizing the central liturgical theme of a given day or service. An irmos is a
model stanza in each of nine odes in the Russian Orthodox Kanon, each of which
paraphrases a biblical canticle by repetition or variation; the irmos sets a textual and melodic
pattern (i.e., Znamenny chant) for subsequent stanzas in the same way that the first stanza
of a hymn serves as the model for remaining stanzas.
1 Gardner, "Some Observations," pp. 4,6.
century with the Tserkovnoye Prostopiniye, a mod

(1906) of the living chant tradition of today's Rusin
body of the old Znamenny chant found in the Pro
very same chant of the Lviv irmologia. The chan
stable and intact among Rusins for at least three h
largely through oral tradition."9
Surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains, these
have kept alive the Znamenny chant tradition that
of the entire Rus' people. In preserving this mu
preserved an unbroken lifeline from a glorious past
and for future generations.
The Lviv Irmologia

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centurie
Southwestern Rus' sang three types of liturgical m
be summarized as follows:
1. Traditional liturgical chant melodies notated in irmolo-

gia-liturgical books containing the complete yearly cycle of the
movable parts of liturgical services. For the most part, the cantors
sang from these collections.
2. Traditional liturgical chant melodies of the oral tradition
sung from memory with the use of books by cantors and congre
gation alike. These melodies were not recorded until the late nine
teenth and early twentieth centuries.
3. Part singing of two kinds: a) composed choir music sung in
larger churches and cathedrals located in cities and in monasteries;
b) improvised part singing of the traditional chants used at th
Kievan-Pechersky Lavra monastery, i.e., Monastery of the Caves.94
For the most part, the irmologia from Southwestern Rus'
provide the sources for these notated melodies and for those trans-
mitted through the oral tradition. In 1898, Voznesensky, a Russian
Orthodox priest, published a comprehensive study of church
singing in Southwestern Rus', Tserkovnoye penie pravoslavnoi Yugo-
zapadnoi Rusi (Church singing of Orthodox Southwestern Rus'). It
contains a comparison of six notated staff irmologia of southwestern
93 The ancestors of the Rusin people lived on the southern slopes of the Carpathians
from the sixth century. Until 1919, their native land formed an integral part of the
multinational kingdom of Hungary.
94 Myroslav Antonowycz, The Chants from Ukrainian Heirmologia, (Biltoven: A. B. Creyton,
1974), Appendix I, p. 149, n. 17.
Znamenny Chant 233
origin. The outline below follows the listi

offers some basic information about these m
1. 1652 manuscript. Location: Kiev, Arc

Contains no engraved pictures. Includes
letters. Written very clearly with cinnobar n
from up to Ode 6. Tone 1 and the preface an
2. Seventeenth-century manuscript. Lo
Vladimir Volinsky. It is older than 1652 ma
same. Includes engraved pictures. Has obsole
takes in text. Beginning and last pages are m
3. Dated 1700. Location: Kiev, Archeological Museum.
Handwriting same as 1652 and seventeenth-century manuscripts
(nos. 1 and 2). No engraved pictures included. Not studied by
Voznesensky.
4. 1700. Location: Kiev, Archeological Museum. Printed first
edition by the Brotherhood of St. George under the supervision of
Abbot Joseph Gorodetsky. Fifteen engraved pictures. First six pages
missing." Actually printed not in 1700 but in 1707 due to the war
between Poland and Sweden.96 This collection repeatedly reprinted
in Pochaev Lavra monastery although texts and melodies change.
There were several reprintings of the 1700 Lviv printed irmologion:
1770, 1774, 1794 irmologia are almost identical with the 1700
edition.97 The 1700 irmologion was no great rarity in the Hungarian
Empire, and it was used by the Subcarpathian Rus' even up to
World War I.98 Other Lviv editions based on 1700 Irmologion were:
1757: Contains Te Deum at back of book. The virtually unchanged
Gregorian melody is notated in Kievan notation. 1816: Served as
basis of Ioanne de Castro's Methodus Cantus Ecclesiastici Graeco-
Slavicil 1904 edition.'" The 1700 Irmologion came to be known in
Russia through the Kuryansky monastery in the middle of the
eighteenth century. Also used at the Kievan Bratsky monastery.101
5. 1674-75 manuscript. Location: Not given. Contains beautiful
5 Voznesensky, Church singing in Orthodox Southwestern Rus', pp. 5-7.
96Antonowycz, The Chants from Ukrainian Heirmologia, p. 3. This was the Great Northern
War, which began in 1700.
'Gardner, Liturgical singing of the Russian Orthodox church, II:171-172. The
reprinted editions were somewhat revised.
SIbid., 11:102, n. 211.
9 I have not examined de Castro's edition of 1881.
'" Antonowycz, The Chants from Ukrainian Heirmologia, p. 9.

'01 Razumovsky, Church singing in Russia, p. 192.
pictures. Includes engraved capital letters at begin

section. Foreword and epilogue missing. Contains cinn
tion by Stephen Dobrusisky.1'2 With few exceptio
irmologion is the same as the 1674-75 in arrangemen
melodies, and keys.
6. 1709. Location: Not given.'03 Printed under the p
Stauropigial Institute of Lviv, the Cathedral of the A
Includes engraved pictures. Pictures borrowed from
gion but arranged in different order. Printed in sam
Battle of Poltava between Russia and Sweden. Contain
of the Slavonic translation of Te Deum in Kievan notation; it
follows the index/register at the end of the collection.
The six irmologia may be chronologically divided according to:
1. Neumatic manuscript irmologia:

a. 1652 manuscript
b. Manuscript dated seventeenth century
c. Manuscript dated 1700, presumably written by the same cal-
ligrapher as a and b (according to Voznesensky)
2. Manuscript staff irmologia: 1674-75
3. Printed staff irmologia:
a. 1700 printed at St. George Cathedral, Lviv, in 1707
b. 1709 printed by the Brotherhood of the Assumption at the
Church of the Assumption, Lviv; identical to 1674-75
manuscript
From the sixteenth century, the Orthodox brotherhoods,

especially that of the Assumption in Lviv, engaged in many
educational endeavors as a support for the defense of the
Orthodox church and its culture. Through their publishing
activities, they exerted a widespread influence.104 Liturgical books,
including printed irmologia, flooded the churches and parish
communities of the Danube basin. These books were then copied
by dozens of poor churches in Subcarpathian Rus'.'05 Traditionally,
the copying of books among the Rusin people was considered an
102 I have been unable to find any information concerning Stephen Dobrusisky.
1o3 The Most Rev. Michael J. Dudick, ordinary of the Byzantine Ruthenian Eparchy of
Passaic, NewJersey, has made a copy of the 1709 Irmologion available to me.
'" Gardner, Liturgical singing of the Russian Orthodox church, 11:102, n. 211.
o'5 Stefan Papp, "A Bizanci-6szlav-magyar lit. 6nek t6rt6nete" [Byzantine-Slavic-
Hungarian music], trans. Joseph Jackanich (Kogice, Czech., 1982-83, typewritten), p. 10.
Znamenny Chant 235
act of devotion and worship.'o6 Several of th

their way into the following areas by 1909:
are still extant in Subcarpathian Rus'; b) twe
c) eight in Hungary; d) a few in Serbia, the
present-day Yugoslavia), the United Stat
included both manuscript and printed irmolo
The Muscovites had also felt the influence
Gabriel Golovnia, a court singer from Galic
part singing, prepared an irmologion for pu
Synodal singers rejected this edition.'08 In 1
lished its own cycle of chant books.1'9
The 1709 irmologion contains a greater nu
do the other editions from Southwestern R
irmologion is shorter than that of 1709,110 bot
same way: preface/introduction; chapters 1-
(hymns based on a particular dogma), antip
each tone; chapter 9: Podobny Chants (elabo
chanted) for each tone; chapters 10-11: East
index; Te Deum found only in 1709 edition.
These two Lviv irmologia were printed und
stances and by two different brotherhoods.
(1596), Lviv remained opposed to the Cathol
Bishop Joseph Shumliansky (1667-1708) o
accepted the Union of Brest. Only the Ass
remained steadfastly Orthodox. Although
"stauropigial" and therefore canonically free
according to Hrushevsky the bishop required
expenses in the war with Sweden, leaving it
also established a rival printing press. U
blow," the brotherhood accepted the Cath
Shumliansky's rival press at St. George
the "1700" irmologion in 1707; it was th
06 Antal Hodinka, A Munkaicsi Gorog-Katholikus Piisp6k

Greek-Catholic Eparchy], trans. Joseph Jackanich (Budapes
Akademia, 1909), pp. 788-814.
107 Papp, "Byzantine-Slavic-Hungarian Music," p. 10.
10" Gardner, Liturgical singing of the Russian Orthodox
does not give a reason for this.
'0 Voznesensky, Church singing in Orthodox Southwester
o Ibid., p. 11.
"' Hrushevsky, A History of Ukraine, pp. 426-27.
published."' The Assumption brotherhood, "the o

influential of all brotherhoods," printed the 1709 irm
well as many other liturgical and educational books
this collection, the Te Deum of St. Ambrose is notated. This
addendum is not found in the "1700" edition."4
If we accept Voznesensky's conclusion that the 1709 irmologion
is identical to the 1674-75 manuscript, we may then say that the
latter acts as the immediate source of and model for the 1709
printed edition."5
During the eighteenth century, both irmologia were used by
Orthodox and Catholics alike. For these unsophisticated Christians,
liturgical ritual and chant, like their iconography, transcended
disputes involving theology. 116
Chant Book of Subcarpathian Rus'
As noted above, the irmologia from Southwestern Rus' found their
way northward to Muscovy, to the south of Subcarpathian Rus', and
even into Serbia."7 Purchase of these books was a costly investment:
depending on the quality of its binding, paper, and accessibility, a
book in Subcarpathian Rus' could sell for the price of one or even
two cows."118 While individuals did copy songbooks or prayer books,
only a well-trained person could copy an irmologion, which con-
tained not only words but music as well. Such a task rested with a
few artistic calligraphers and cantors from Subcarpathian Rus', for
example, I. Juha'evic (1741-1814), L. Paszulka, I. Fekete, and M.
Holis. These copyists from the Carpathian region transcribed
irmologia from 1730 to 1825."119
" Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia, 2 vol. (1963, 1971), s.v. "Book Printing and the
Press," by B. Krawciw, 2:444-45.
", Paul Robert Magocsi, Galicia: A Historic Survey and Bibliographical Guide (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1983), p. 85.
"4 Apparently the Roman Catholic text and Gregorian chant "Te Deum Laudamus"
was not forbidden to the Orthodox for special feasts. The 1709 irmologion contains as its last
musical piece the Gregorian chant attributed to St. Ambrose in church Slavonic, "Tebe Boga
Khvalim." It may have been added when the Assumption brotherhood joined the Union.
" Gardner, Liturgical singing of the Russian Orthodox church, 11:173. The 1700
irmologion was reprinted at the Pochaev Lavra monastery in 1770, 1774, 1794. The chant
books of the Russian Synod (1772) more closely resemble the 1709 collection.
"6 Voznesensky, Church singing in Orthodox Southwestern Rus', p. 50.
17 Krawciw, "Book Printing and the Press," p. 445.
"8 Hodinka, The Mukatevo Greek-Catholic Eparchy, p. 797.
"9 Papp, Byzantine-Slavic-Hungarian music, p. 10. Greek Catholics felt that they all
lived in one country from Lviv to the Adriatic. In a taped interview with me in 1982, Papp
names two other cantors: Andrew Demjanovich and Michael Rudy.
Znamenny Chant 237
Copyists and cantors like these establish the

the past and present, for they continue to
Znamenny chant to later generations. The life
most important copier of Rusin irmologia, de
process was accomplished.
Ivan Juhasevic (1741-1814)
Ivan Juha'evic was born in Siros County, pr
Slovakia. In 1760, he began a ten-year stay
School of the Assumption in Lviv, where h
copying books. Returning home to Subcarpath
taught and served as cantor in several village
end of his life he worked at Nevyc'ke, a v
Uwhorod. A gifted, experienced calligraphe
approximately thirty-eight irmologia and son
nature. Five of his irmologia have been identi
Iavorsky and one by Stefan Papp.'20 Location of
his manuscripts would undoubtedly provide r
for further study of the Znamenny chant
Southwestern Rus' tradition, as recorded byJu
information I have gathered about the irmolo
provided below (Irmologion dated):
1. 1778-79. Location: Library of Redemp
Mychajliv (in Humenne, Czechoslovakia)''
2. 1795. Location not cited. Manuscript cop
Uihorod, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic)'2
120 Papp, "Rozvii tserkovnoho bohosluzhbovoho spivu (Pr
eparchii." [Essay in liturgical church singing in the Mukatevo e
Petragevic, Irmologion (Pregov: Greek Catholic Ordinariate,
Papp was a musicologist living in Mukatevo, in the Ukrainian
Irmologion, he and Nikifor Petra'evic compiled the liturg
Znamenny, sung in the surrounding area. Papp (d. 1990) left a
Hungarian, whose English title is "Byzantine-Slav-Hungarian M
tradition from the ninth century to the present, referred to e
Iavorsky (1873-1937) was a Ukrainian Russophile who emigr
organize a Carpatho-Rusin Committee for Liberation in Kiev
1913. In 1931, he and several Russophile scholars sponsored a s
seminars in Prague and in Subcarpathian Rus'. The topics de
Magocsi, The Shaping of a National Identity (Cambridge, M
University Press, 1978), pp. 73, 174.
121 Papp, Essay in liturgical church singing, p. 185.
122 Irmologia numbered 2-5 are cited by Julian Iavorsky
starinnoi piesennoi literatury v Podkarpatskoi Rusi" [Materials fo
the literature of Subcarpathian Rus'] 1, Knihovna Sboru pro Vyzk
3. 1806. Location not cited.
4. 1809. Location not cited. Copied in the village of Kamionka

Spi' county.'" In 1841, Peter Kuzmiak, a cantor of the Folvars
Church in Spis, copied the 1809 irmologion.
5. 1811-12. Location: Charles University, Prague, No. XLII L 16
According to Papp, this irmologion is labeled no. 38, presumabl
Juha'evic's 38th irmologion, which was found by Ivan Pankevich
1946.124
On the basis of reproductions of the 1809 and 1811-12 irmologia,

we can hypothesize as follows:
1. Judging from Juhasevic's calligraphy, we can assume that h
worked in a thorough, methodical, and meticulous way. Even
reproductions, they are lovely to look at.
2. IfJuhasevic copied dogmatika in separate collections, we ma
assume that he proceeded in the same way with the remaini
chant types, irmosy, found in either the 1700 or 1709 irmologia. In
doing, it appears that Juhas'evic was following a systematic arran
ment of collections similar to that of the 1772 Holy Synod
Moscow-arranging each chant type in a separate collection.
3. The remainder of the irmologia contain, each in its own plac
irmosy and other chants of the liturgical cycle.
We may thus conclude that approximately thirty-eight irmologia

await scholarly study. These manuscripts probably represent th
major source of Rusin plainchant, and the Juha'evic manuscript
would undoubtedly provide the missing link which connects th
Kiev-Lviv tradition with that of Subcarpathian Rus. I have foun
no documentation confirming that Juha'evic or other canto
copied from either the 1700 or the 1709 irmologia. We can on
assume that this is the case. This information would certain
enable scholars to study the continuum between the Kiev-Lviv an
Rusin traditions. We know that the former is the prototype of t
latter. We can only surmise that one of the irmologia of Juhasev
Rusi pri Slovanskem Ustavu, no. 8 (Prague: 1934), pp. 334-335. According to Magocsi, t
Ukrainian Museum in Svidnik, Czechoslovakia, contains one or more of the Juhage
manuscripts.
12S Kamionka is today located in Krosno, Poland. See Paul Robert Magocsi, Our Peop
Carpatho-Rusyns and Their Descendants in North America (Toronto: Multicultural Histo
Society of Ontario, 1984), p. 109.
124 Papp, Essay in liturgical church singing, p. 185.
125 In Papp and Petrasevic, Irmologion, pp. 195-96.
Znamenny Chant 239
may be a copy of the "1700" or 1709 irmolog

the Znamenny chant tradition moves in
direction, from Kiev to Novgorod and Mosc
tradition; and from Kiev to Lviv and Su
Southwestern Rus' tradition (Fig. 1).126
Fig. 1.
PLAINCHANT TRADITION OF RUS' LANDS
NORTHERN-MUSCOVITE
GREAT RUSSIAN
"OWOOD (12* - .** C)

*%'ILO~TQC aNMOSCM W (161- ip"c.)
(s C.) $kaidur
Nikon
Reforms (iA C.):
Peter $ie Great
SOUTHWESTERN RUS'--
KIEV-LVIV-SUBCARPATHIAN M LWIV Monastu Ie Cav
RUS'
SSUPCARITM IAN FUS
Bok1ar, Malini, (.so6)

otin (14-25)
Papp A- Petra.evi (E70 )

f? Seu-twl-kan 5lav
(Ca_-144.; ICkA.)
" Theodore Ratsin prepared an unpublished manuscript copy of an irmologion

containing Znamenny chants for Great Lent not found in Papp and Petragevic or in John
Bokiai and Joseph Malinit, who are discussed later in this article. The last two chant
collections are available from Byzantine Seminary Press, 3605 Perrysville Avenue,
Pittsburgh, PA 15214. A copy of the Ratsin irmologion is in my research collection.
An irmologion from Subcarpathian Rus' was in

library of Gardner. This collection may have come
monastery near the village of Boronjava near Chus
Czechoslovakia but now in the Ukrainian Soviet Soc
This irmologion contains irmosy, theotokia-dogmatika,
types for all eight tones.17 Since Gardner's deat
location of this manuscript has not been made publ
The Tserkovnoye Prostopiniye

In 1906, a priest-musician namedJohn Boksai an
Malinik produced the Tserkovnoye Prostopiniye (Pla
church) l28 This collection is an anthology of the m
sung liturgical chants and sacred melodies in th
Subcarpathian Rus'. The chants are of two types:
1. Those whose direct source is the 1700 and/or 17

a. Chants of matins and vespers
b. Chants of the Lenten/Easter season
c. Chants for special feast days
d. Liturgies of St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, and the Liturgy
of the Presanctified Gifts
2. Melodies which may be chants or folk songs. The Ordinary

texts of the liturgy have been set to these melodies. The general
contents of the Prostopiniye are Part 1, Osmoglasnik: Chants of the
Eight-Tone Cycle; Part 2, matins: Ordinary parts; Part 3, vespers:
Ordinary parts; Part 4, special Lenten chants; Part 5, Easter to
Pentecost; Part 6, immovable feasts; Part 7, various chants
associated with paraliturgical services; Part 8, Liturgies of St. John
Chrysostom, St. Basil, Presanctified Gifts.
Almost all the Znamenny melodies found in the twentieth-

century collection are contained in its matrix, the 1709 edition
(which, according to Voznesensky, is the printed and identical
version of an earlier manuscript collection dated 1674). The 1674/
1709 collection therefore represents an older and more compre-
1 Gardner, "Zur Frage der Verwandung des Sema Fita in den altrussischen
liturgischen Gesanghandschriften mit linierten Notation," Akademie der Wissenschaften und
Literatur Nr. 9 (1969), p. 6. Theotokia-dogmatike are hymns sung in honor of Mary; theotokos
means Godbearer, i.e., Mother of God.
"S8 Byzantine
printed John Bokiai and Joseph
Seminary Press, Malini., Tserkovnoye
Pittsburgh, n.d. Prostopiniye (Muka-evo, 1906). Re-
Znamenny Chant 241
hensive tradition than the "1700" edition do

scholar with greater source material.1'
The first part of this article focused o
Znamenny chant tradition from its earliest
of an intricate puzzle have been assembled,
mary of the early stages of the Znamenny c
the major source of chant for both the Gre
Muscovite) and the Kiev-Lviv-Subcarpathian
one of the topics may be considered for stu
fact, musicologists have addressed thems
points briefly mentioned in Part One.
The second part of this article establishes
the chant tradition of the 1674/1709 Lviv I
the 1906 edition, the Tserkovnoye Prostopiniye
the latter collection date from at least 16
earlier since the Lviv manuscript collection is
of the ancient Znamenny chant transmitted
oral tradition. If the chants of the 1709 Lviv
of the 1906 Prostopiniye are placed side by
are extraordinary. This is all the more rem
who had studied music at the University of
phrase-by-phrase notation of the melodies d
could not read music but whose memory
These two irmologia--one much older than
scholar with a veritable treasury of raw ma
probe the origins of the Znamenny chant. I inv
in the Znamenny chant to use this article a
for studies in the Great Russian and Southwestern Rus' traditions.'3
12 I had the 1709 Lviv printed irmologion reproduced and bound to facilitate musical
analysis of its contents. It is available for study at the library of the Center for Eastern
Christian Studies, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA 18510.
1`0 The history of the Tserkovnoye Prostopiniye can be found in my monograph The
Plainchant Tradition of Southwestern Rus' (Boulder, Colo. and New York: East European
Monographs and Columbia University Press, No. CCII, 1986), Chs. 2 and 5.
'~' Another collection deserving attention is the Suprasl irmologion (1601), the earliest-
known Slavonic manuscript in which the Znamenny chants are recorded in Kievan (square)
notation on a five-line staff. The Suprasl Monastery of the Annunciation was founded near
Byelostock in Byelorussia (White Russia) in the fifteenth century by monks from the
Monastery of the Caves in Kiev. These monks brought with them the Znamenny chant
tradition already long in practice in Southwestern Rus'. In time, the Suprasl Monastery
excelled as one of the most prominent cultural and educational centers in Byelorussian
lands during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

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The Znamenny Chant

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The Znamenny Chant

Author(s): Joan L. Roccasalvo

STUDIES in the culture of ancient Rus' recently gained impetus

Part One: The Chant Tradition of the Rus' Peopl

The people of Kievan Rus' became acquainted with Christianity

4 Milo9 Velimirovic, Byzantine Elements in Early Slavic Chant: The Heirmologion.

Novgorod to the north, and still later to Mo

In the fourteenth century the number of manuscript sourc

8 I. Voznesensky, Tserkovnoye penie pravoslavnoi Yugo-zapadnoi Rusi [Church singing in

patriarch of Constantinople was also the patriarch o

Many years passed, bringing Mongol and Hungarian yokes, No

The Slavonic chant in the north was again insulated from

13 Florinsky, Russia: A History and an Interpretation, pp. 140-41.

chant or "chanting by signs." 20 Many lists

Sixteenth Century: Novgorod-Muscovite Cha

4. Neumatic notation became increasingly difficult to read and

5. Ivan IV the "Terrible" (1547-84) transferred the famous

Loggin (or Longin), and Shaidur. Abbot Loggin o

Sixteenth Century: Southwestern Rus' (Kiev-Lviv-Subcarpathian

28 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:3.

teenth century on."3 Southwestern Rus' lay

The Eastern Influence. The long-standing religious tensions

35 Michael Hrushevsky, A History of Ukraine (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Pr

Influence of the Renaissance. From the time of Poland's conver-

1. Greek, Serbian, and Bulgarian chants entered a repertoi

49 Voznesensky, The eight tone chants, 1:30.

systems (the latter originating in Kiev, particu

4. Orthodox brotherhoods, responsible for liturgical mu

Early Part Singing

main outline in each voice, yet showing enough in

Seventeenth Century: The Need for Reform in Mos

58 Swan, "Notes on the Old Liturgical Chants," pp. 29-31.

AHecb -in modern-day Russian, one syllable

3. The use of a trichord similar to, and perhaps derived from,

The second reform took place after Moscow annexed the

62 Gardner, Liturgical singing of the Russian Orthodox church, 1:480.

reached new levels of excellence at the Kiev Academ

66 NG, s.v. "Kiev," by Aristide Wirsta, p. 58.

his patriarchate, Nikon invited to Moscow

In others words, the old Znamenny chant had t

8 Palikarova-Verdeil, La musique byzantine chez bulgares, pp. 74-75.

88 Swan, Russian Music, p. 34.

reforms were "definitely designed for simp

While the indigenous chant seemed to disappear altogether in

Part Two: Notated Staff Irmologia of Southwestern Rus

The notated staff irmologia of eighteenth-century Southwestern

century with the Tserkovnoye Prostopiniye, a mod

The Lviv Irmologia

1. Traditional liturgical chant melodies notated in irmolo-

origin. The outline below follows the listi

1. 1652 manuscript. Location: Kiev, Arc

'" Antonowycz, The Chants from Ukrainian Heirmologia, p. 9.

pictures. Includes engraved capital letters at begin

The six irmologia may be chronologically divided according to:

1. Neumatic manuscript irmologia:

From the sixteenth century, the Orthodox brotherhoods,

act of devotion and worship.'o6 Several of th

06 Antal Hodinka, A Munkaicsi Gorog-Katholikus Piisp6k

published."' The Assumption brotherhood, "the o

Copyists and cantors like these establish the

3. 1806. Location not cited.

4. 1809. Location not cited. Copied in the village of Kamionka

On the basis of reproductions of the 1809 and 1811-12 irmologia,