Two directions of musical art of ancient Rus'. Musical culture of Ancient Rus' (Vladyshevskaya T.F.)
The emergence of professional music in Rus' is closely connected with the event that determined the entire future fate of the Russian people - with the acceptance in the end X centuries of Christianity. The introduction to Orthodoxy allowed Russian culture, through contact with Byzantium, to overcome local limitations and acquire a universal dimension.
The baptism of Rus' was carried out “from above,” often by violent methods. Paganism continued to live among the lower classes. In the art of music, the result of the struggle between Christian and pagan worldviews was the opposition between sacred music in the form of church singing and non-church music associated with oral folk art that existed for centuries in Rus'.
Various types of folk instrumental music-making were united by the concept "musikia". Music included playing musical instruments, dance tunes, and the art of buffoons, who have long amused, amused and excited the Russian people. Buffoons were regular participants in folk festivals, games, and festivities. They sang and danced, played folk instruments (harp, whistles, pipes, bagpipes, tambourines, domras), acted out skits, performed magic tricks and cursed. Their repertoire was formed mainly on the basis of folk music. The creativity of buffoons was a link between folklore and professional art.
Buffoonery, being part of the laughter culture of medieval Rus', was imbued with a special spirit of freethinking and relaxed creativity. Often, behind the feigned stupidity, it revealed a sharp satire on powerful of the world this. Officially considered a manifestation of sinfulness and devilish temptation, buffoonery was subjected to constant persecution by the authorities. Numerous state and church decrees and charters constantly branded “wicked people” who committed “ungodly deeds.”
The criticism of the church fathers did not extend to “prestigious” instrumental genres - military music and instrumental accompaniment of epics and heroic epics. The military exploits of princes and their squads were glorified in epic tales. The representative of this heroic song tradition was, in particular, the legendary Boyan, whose image is captured in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” ( XII century).
Church singing art, which left a deep mark on the Russian culture of subsequent times, was part of a single cult action. From the very beginning of its development, it developed as a vocal art. Only the voice of a singing person was recognized as the only “musical instrument” worthy of conveying the Word of God.
Church singing was called “sweet-voiced”, “God-given”. Its original forms, as well as recording methods, were borrowed from Byzantium in X century with the adoption of Christianity. This was unison male singing, perceived as an analogue of cathedral prayer (another possible option was antiphonal singing of two male choirs). Strictly maintained monophony without instrumental accompaniment became one of the main features of ancient Russian singing art. It was believed that it was the monophonic intonation of the text that created the feeling of incorporeality, angel-likeness; in contrast, any polyphony was associated with spatial representations, with materiality, physicality.
To record church chants, not notes were used, but special signs, or, in Old Slavonic, “znamena” (otherwise known as “hooks”). This is where the name comes from "znamenny singing" , "Znamenny chant" (or, as they used to say in the old days, chant). Each sign corresponded to a specific melodic chant - a short diatonic motif in the volume of a third or fourth.
Znamenny chant for seven centuries ( XI - XVII ) was the basis of all ancient Russian church music. His melody was distinguished by the smoothness of progressive movement. Tertz and fourth jumps were allowed in special cases. The rhythm was smooth and even.
The practice of church singing has long been an oral tradition. Only in XV - XVI For centuries, all types of church hymns were “put on the banner.”
In the course of historical development, the original Byzantine basis of Russian church singing was modified. Firstly, it increasingly interacted with the Russian folk song tradition. Secondly, changes in the Church Slavonic language, which led to significant discrepancies between text and music, necessitated modification of the tunes. Thirdly, the formation of the pantheon of Russian saints led to the emergence of new chants. All this was reflected in the conscious processing of tunes of Greek origin into the Russian style. In music, as in icon painting, the creative spirit of Russian masters has always found ways to express itself.
Initial period development of ancient Russian singing art (with XI - to mid-XV century) is associated with the history of Kievan and Novgorod Rus'. At this stage, Russian church music mastered and interpreted the Byzantine tradition without significantly changing it.
The artistic culture that was closest to Byzantine origins was Kievan Rus. Among the saved standards - osmoglas system(octagonal), which determined the order of alternation of chants during annual church services. The system of osmoglasiya, which arose on the basis of the Christian calendar, was finally formed in the work of the Byzantine theologian and hymnographer VIII century St. John of Damascus.
Every 8 weeks of the Christian calendar were pillar . Each week of the pillar corresponded to a specific voice- a set of melodic chants on the basis of which the chant was built. After one pillar expired, a new cycle began - the next pillar. The starting point was Easter.
In Kievan Rus, along with the usual banner, there was a special kind kondakarnogo singing, characterized by an abundance of melodic ornaments and intra-syllabic chants.
During the period of feudal fragmentation, which began after the collapse of Kievan Rus and the Mongol-Tatar invasion, the center of liturgical singing became Novgorod. Politically independent (“free”), a wealthy trading city that did not know the severity of the Horde yoke, Novgorod contributed to the development of original art, in which the “voice of Byzantium” was increasingly heard. Embodying the spiritual ideals of the Russian people, the Novgorod art school (including architecture and icon painting) gradually overcame its dependence on Byzantine models.
It is Novgorod that becomes a major center of buffoon culture. Entire buffoon settlements arose in and around the city. From there, folk actors traveled throughout Rus'. IN XVI century they were discharged from Novgorod to Moscow for “royal fun.”
A striking feature of the life of Novgorodians was the ringing of bells. Bells firmly entered the church life of Russian cities and subsequently became not only a source of national pride, but also a kind of “sound image” of Rus'.
The flourishing of the choral culture of Znamenny singing in the Pre-Renaissance era
From the middle of the 15th century century, the features of national identity are fully manifested in the ancient Russian church singing art. The era of its heyday begins, which was preceded by the unification of the Russian principalities around Moscow and the creation of a single state. Moscow is becoming a center for the development of artistic culture, which is commonly called culture Pre-Renaissance.
An important achievement of the new period in the development of liturgical singing was the birth of Russian cantilenas. The laconic recitative motifs of the early Znamenny chant eventually developed into widely chanted ones. Melodic breathing became extended, free, flexible, and the range expanded. He reached the minor seventh, and the entire scale reached the duodecimus.
The composition technique has improved. Masters XV centuries were no longer limited to singing the reference tone and moving it. They used more complex techniques: repetition, variation development, reduction and expansion of chants, sequences. The tunes of chants were sometimes decorated with a kind of anniversary - the so-called fitami And persons.
Much work has been done to systematize spiritual chants in XV century led to the creation "Everyday life"- song book of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The evolution of church singing in Rus' was closely connected with the activities of Russians singers. The chanter was considered an interpreter, not a creator of new hymns. When creating chants, he was guided by an archetype - a canonical model. These musical "stencils" were called similar(hence the expression “singing like”). Each genre of church music had its own set of similar ones.
Historical evidence speaks of the highest professional level of ancient Russian singers. The oldest among them were the Novgorod brothers Savva and Vasily Rogov(XVI century). Vasily (in monasticism Varlaam) subsequently made a brilliant spiritual career, becoming the first Metropolitan of Rostov.
The Rogov brothers had students in both Novgorod and Moscow. Among the students of Savva Rogov - Fedor Krestyanin(Christian) Ivan Nos, Stefan Golysh. All of them occupied a high social position and were notable personalities in their time.
In the middle of the XVI century Znamenny chant reached its peak. At this time, many melodic variants of the same chant appeared, which significantly expanded the scope of the singing repertoire. Each large monastery had its own chant. The chants of the Kiev-Pechersk and Trinity-Sergius Lavra were especially famous.
Special varieties of choral singing branched off from Znamenny chant. For example, on special days, on major church holidays, it sounded demental chant . It was distinguished by its splendor, splendor, and abundant decorations; it was not by chance that it was called “red.” Being the crown of liturgical singing, demestial chant is not associated with osmoglasiya and is, as it were, above it.
The pinnacle of development of znamenny chant - "big chant" . In addition to being saturated with broad melodic chant, it seemed to “sprout” with the intonations of Russian folk songs, which made Znamenny chant closer and more accessible to parishioners.
The origin of the “big chant” is associated with the name of one of the most gifted masters of choral music of the Russian Pre-Renaissance, Fyodor Krestyanin. Together with Ivan Nos, Fyodor Christian worked in Moscow in Alexandrova Sloboda, where Tsar Ivan the Terrible created a kind of “conservatory” where he invited the best masters.
Ivan the Terrible was an expert and great lover of church singing. On his initiative, the Moscow Council of 1551 obliged the clergy of all cities to organize singing schools to teach children singing and reading.
A new phenomenon in the singing art of the second half XVI century has also become three-line singing. The three-line system got its name from the recording system: three voices were recorded line by line in different colors (red and black) and combined into a multi-colored score. The main voice was the “path”, which usually sang the canonical melody of the Znamenny chant. “The Way” was placed in the middle voice and framed by “top” and “bottom.”
Three-line singing was not considered a departure from the one-voice tradition. In the light of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, it revealed the idea of a triune angelic singing, when three voices smoothly flow parallel to each other, then flowing into one another, then diverging.
In the era of the Pre-Renaissance, worship music became the subject of administrative care. A lot of work is being done to correct errors and discrepancies in ancient Znamenny manuscripts, the state of church singing in the country is inspected as exemplary choir of sovereign singing clerks. This choir was founded at the end XV centuries at the court of Ivan III . It included 30-35 singers who constantly accompanied the king and sang both in cathedrals and during various palace ceremonies.
In the XVI century, the art of singing goes beyond the church for the first time. This is evidenced by the emergence of a genre called “penitential verse.” Poems of repentance existed outside the church, were not associated with a specific liturgical rite, and their style was influenced by folk songs.
In the XV and XVI centuries, theatrical musical performances in which biblical stories were played out became widespread. Telling about Adam, Cain, Joseph, Moses, Samson, David, they were part of holiday services. The most popular "Cave action" , performed before Christmas. Its content is connected with the story of three youths, by order of King Nebuchadnezzar, thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship the Babylonian gods and saved by a heavenly angel.
Gradually, European musical entertainment took root in court life - listening to “overseas” music performed on the organ and clavichord.
In the 17th century, many buffoons were evicted from the central regions to the North and Siberia, and their instruments were burned. However, the traditions of buffoonery entered the style of court buffoonery and the folk theater.
Individual elements of polyphony appear no earlier than the middle XVI century. Long-term cultivation monody contributed to the development of the melodic principle - the basis of Russian national musical culture.
due to the characteristic shape of the most common sign. Some of the singing signs retained their Greek name and meaning (paraclete, culisma, etc.). However, succinct Russian designations given to signs based on their appearance have become more widespread: “kryzh” (cross), “cup”, “stick”, “simple arrow”, “loud arrow”, “two in a canoe”, “dear greyhound” ", "spider", etc.
Znamenny writing is one of the variants of non-linear insane letter . Like all other non-neutral signs, the banners did not record the exact pitch of sounds.
In 1389 Russian army under the leadership of the Moscow prince Dmitry Donskoy (with the blessing of the great spiritual mentor Sergius of Radonezh) defeated the Tatar khan Mamai in the battle on the Kulikovo field. At the end XV century under Prince Ivan III Rus' achieved complete liberation from Mongol-Tatar dependence. Ivan III He was the first of the Moscow princes to call himself “Sovereign of All Rus'.” IN XVI century his grandson Ivan IV Grozny is expanding the borders of the state, annexing new lands. Moscow becomes the capital of the Russian state, a symbol of its greatness and glory.
The so-called Stoglavy Cathedral took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. His decisions are expressed in 100 chapters.
In the 18th century, the choir of the sovereign's singing clerks was transferred to St. Petersburg and transformed into the Court Singing Chapel.
The music of those times is known from various sources, and much of the data is reliable. Frescoes, various chronicles and even icons serve as sources of information to create a complete picture of typical life in the times of ancient Rus'. The works of the Novgorod bishop and monk George contain clear information that musicians performed on the streets and various squares of the cities. Naturally, music was an important part of all ritual holidays, especially such popular and revered ones as Maslenitsa or, for example, Ivan Kupala.
All large gatherings of people, including all kinds of fairs, were often accompanied by musical performances. During the fun and celebration of rituals, games and dances accompanied typical ritual actions. Equestrian competitions, performances by buffoons and actors were as popular as performances by musicians, so even then there were touring, that is, traveling groups.
Undoubtedly, special events, held at the court of princes and in the houses of wealthy residents, were also accompanied by music. The prince played beautiful instrumental melodies during the course, and when the guests gathered after the meal, concerts were often given in the garden.
Music and military ranks were not spared. To strengthen morale and lift spirits, as well as to maintain rhythm during long and tiring walks, simple but pleasant music was played. With the help of trumpets, surnas and horns in war they gave signs and signaled the gathering. Tambourines and drums created loud noise, which helped to intimidate the enemy and further demonstrated serious intentions.
The music of ancient Rus' was not very diverse, but at that time there were already many different instruments. Among the most common and go down in history as an iconic and primordial Russian instrument were the gusli. The guslars played for entertainment and could tell various epics to the music. The ritual leaders and authors were usually the wise men, but folk music was represented by buffoons. As the first personal performers in Rus', buffoons often used various instruments and, in addition to the gusli, played pipes, pipes and trumpets.
The art of bell ringing, as a unique type of music and art in general unique to ancient Rus', actively developed after the capture by the Tatar-Mongols. The three types of ringing that still exist today originated back then. These uniform strikes on the bell are called blagovest, chiming based on fingering, and the ringing itself, which has become a real, unique game of bells.
Church music, which appeared after the population converted to Christianity, developed gradually and was based on singing. As the most advanced musical instrument, the human voice was considered the most important, and therefore chants began to be used during all services. It is generally accepted that the first teachers in this direction were Bulgarian and Greek singers. The works of most of the church singing art remained anonymous, so history has preserved only a few names of outstanding masters. It is known for certain that the chants were recorded using musical notation. The alphabet manuals contained lists of the main banners (symbols), but the methods of their execution were not displayed. Considering that the oral tradition was lost in the process of development of other musical styles, it is not possible to restore the temple chants of those years. It is known, however, that typical chants were strict, monophonic and always restrained. To give a special sound, simple melodies and frequent repetition of certain sounds were used. Along with the described znamenny songs, there were parallel kontakary chants and complicated prayers of praise. Examples of such singing are preserved in the most ancient singing books. Unfortunately, it is not possible to decipher the existing data for the same reason, because the special recording system probably had its own oral laws of decryption.
As a unique and very interesting, unusual phenomenon, the music of ancient Rus' delighted everyone who heard it, as there are numerous records of eyewitnesses. At the same time, special, original genres that originated in this territory did not spread throughout the world, and therefore were famous far beyond the borders of Rus'. Epics, bell ringing, lyrical songs, playing the harp and nozzle, as well as military drumming, expanded and enriched the musical trends that existed before that time. By the way, it is generally accepted that church Slavic music became the prototype of modern, professional academic music and became an important stage in the development of art on a global scale.
Considering the number of musical instruments known and widespread in those days, as well as the involvement of musicians in various events, we can conclude that music has always accompanied people. Actually, as an integral part of the cultural heritage of world history, the music of ancient Rus' is very important.
Old Russian music was closely connected with rituals and beliefs, as well as with agricultural labor. This explains the wide variety of genres. In squares, in houses, and at feasts, epics, rituals, dances, work songs, games, lullabies and many other songs were performed.
Old Russian music - performers and main genres
- ritual music, mainly the Magi,
- folk - .
Skomorokhs (they were also called “actors”, since they not only sang and played music, but also staged performances, often improvised) were the first professional musicians in Rus'.
In their creativity they used such musical instruments as
pipes, bagpipes, harps, whistles, trumpets, tambourines, pipes.
Many musicians performed at feasts, singing the valor of Russian knights and princes. The image of such a storyteller is depicted in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” - the famous Bayan.
After the capture of Rus' by the Tatar-Mongols, the free “Mr. Veliky Novgorod” became the center of cultural life. It was there that the genre of epics developed. The epics brought to us the story of the famous performer and guslar Sadko, who conquered even the Sea King with his music.
Bell ringing as a musical genre
Also on Novgorod soil a unique, typical only for music, developed Ancient Rus' genre - the art of bell ringing. There are three types of ringing:
- blagovest(uniform strikes on a large bell),
- chime(sorting bells from smallest to largest or vice versa)
- and actually myself ringing(this was already a real game of bells).
A professional bell ringer has studied the art of ringing all his life.
The beginning of professional music - church and spiritual
The origin of professional music is closely connected with the history of the formation of the ancient Russian state - Kievan Rus (IX-XIII centuries). After the Baptism of Rus' (988) and the strengthening of ties with Byzantium, the first church songs - sacred music - appeared.
Old Russian musical canon
The musical canon of that time was borrowed by ancient Russian priests straight from Byzantium. Old Russian church music, like all Christian music of that period, was monodic, that is, it was based on single-voice chants. The chants were subject to the osmoglas system. With its help, a strict order of musical performance of the service was established.
The osmoglas system was entirely borrowed from and was called the “Byzantine pillar”. In accordance with it, a special voice was sung in Orthodox churches every week (in the system of ancient Russian music, a voice was considered not just one specific tune, but an entire musical system).
There were eight voices in total, and they formed an eight-week cycle (“Byzantine pillar”), which was repeated approximately six and a half times during the year (except for the days of Lent and Holy Easter).
Musicologists and historians consider St. John of Damascus to be the creator of the osmoglas system. ( 680-777), author of the Octoechos.
There were no recordings of the pitch designation of voices at that time. The melody was recorded using a system of special signs that indicated only the direction of the melody, directly below the line of text. The performers had to learn the melody of the chants by ear. The art of singing was passed down orally from teacher to student.
A special aesthetics is also associated with the Byzantine musical canon - "angelic singing" The clear sound of the voice was valued most of all. One of the early Christian writers, Clement of Alexandria (150-215), believed that the human voice is a perfect instrument, and therefore rejected other musical instruments. Therefore, a striking distinctive feature of the music of Ancient Rus' was the principle a capella, that is, singing without the accompaniment of musical instruments.
Singing styles in ancient Russian music
In the music of Ancient Rus', two singing styles coexisted - kondakarny(solo) and Znamenny(choral) chant.
The harmonious alternation of tones and semitones that formed a twelve-step scale was called in a churchly manner. It fell into four agreements - simple, dark, light and tri-light, each with three sounds.
Recording music in Ancient Rus'
To record ancient Russian church music, the monks used a special notation, which was called “znamenny” (from the word banner - “sign”). “Znamenny” notation (or “hook” - after the name of one of the main signs of the system - the hook), performed before the 16th century, is difficult to decipher, since for quite objective reasons science does not have accurate information about how Znamenny chants actually sounded.
It should be noted that Old Russian church and folk music were in a certain opposition. Since the Byzantine canon was borrowed, it came into conflict with folk music, which had deep national roots. Therefore, the authors of ancient Russian chants faced a difficult choice of combining Christian aesthetics and “established” national, but pagan, music-making techniques.
However, not only church and folk ancient Russian music became widespread throughout the country. From the surviving frescoes we can obtain some information about the secular music of that period, which was widespread at the court of the Kyiv princes. On one of the frescoes you can see a musician performing a melody on a bowed string instrument similar to the medieval fidelius (the prototype of the viol). Another fresco depicts a whole group of musicians playing spiritual and plucked instruments, surrounded by buffoons - dancers and acrobats. Also on the fresco is an image of an organ and a man playing it. The Old Russian princes were very fond of music in all its forms and valued talented performers.
It was probably not without reason that a group of singers was created under the tsar, who were called the “sovereign singing clerks.” They received a special salary, depending on how diligently they glorified the king (hence the term “doxology”) at the sovereign’s services. In this unique “singing academy” of ancient Russian music, the continuity of singers was preserved.
- toppers,
- travelers,
- lowlifes,
- universal singers who could sing in all three voices were called demestvenniks.
After the weakening of Kyiv, the Vladimir-Suzdal principality rose, taking over the “baton” for the further development of ancient Russian singing art. The name of the singer and singer Luke has been preserved in history. He was the creator of a whole school of ancient Russian performers. The chronicle refers to his students as “lutsa’s child.”
The significance of the period of Old Russian music
The music of Ancient Rus' is a unique phenomenon in the history of the country and its culture:
- Performers of ancient Russian music created original genres (bell ringing, epics, historical, lyrical songs, etc.),
- Has been expanded and enriched Byzantine musical canon, which has absorbed the originality of the national character.
- Church music became the prototype of professional academic music and was necessary for the development of the culture of Ancient Rus' as a whole.
Introduction
Musical art and Orthodoxy in Ancient Rus'
1 Cultural aspect of the baptism of Rus'
2 On the relationship between aesthetic-artistic and utilitarian-didactic in the cult singing of Ancient Rus'
Styles and genres
1 Some features of Russian sacred music of the X-XVII centuries.
2 On the hierarchy of genres in the Old Russian service
3 Genres of ancient Russian singing art
Hymns to Russian saints
1 Songs about Kievan Rus
2 Chants about the opposition of Muscovite Rus' to the Horde
Conclusion
Literature
Introduction
Today, summing up the often sad results of our policy in the field of culture, we are acutely beginning to understand how carefully and thoughtfully we should approach the preservation of cultural heritage. In the face of a real threat of self-destruction of humanity, its history is no longer perceived only as a struggle of antagonistic classes, but also as a single and contradictory process of development and formation of Man. In this process there was a painful search by man for himself. The results of these searches constitute the heritage of world culture, what is expressed in ideas and values that have universal significance.
The understanding of religion as the ideology of the exploiting classes led to an intolerant attitude towards art dressed in religious forms. Therefore, a huge layer of national art was withdrawn from the sphere of cultural circulation and could not become a factor in artistic education and could not serve to satisfy human artistic needs.
The musical culture of Russia, like that of any other country, has developed and is developing in three main directions: folk music, religious and spiritual music and professional secular composing. Sacred music for the X-XVII centuries. together with the folk one, it is the most ancient layer and has a thousand-year period of development since the adoption of Christianity.
The religious and spiritual culture of this period was part of the life of the people, it embodied in its own way the traits of its character, psychology, features of life, pages of history, and imprinted a special sublime side of the life of society; it has accumulated a huge number of works of aesthetic and moral value. This is truly the greatest heritage of the Russian people. Sacred music for the X-XVII centuries. acts as an integral part of the musical culture of the country it represents.
Orthodox music has its own genre and stylistic features, its own aesthetics and theory.
Over a long period of development, certain traditions have developed in it. Works of church music are the greatest monuments of Russian culture. They are a national property, a universal value. A disrespectful attitude towards church art has had a negative impact on the development of all modern culture and the moral state of society.
Study of ancient Russian sacred music from the 10th to the 17th centuries. relevant because, firstly, it gives us knowledge of the history and origins of the culture of our country. Secondly, sacred music, as a synthesis of religion and art, serves as a means of aesthetic and moral education, promotes philosophical understanding of the world around us. Therefore, a characteristic feature of the development of culture in our country in recent years has been a return to its traditional foundations, including religious and spiritual ones. This phenomenon is caused by the alarming socio-cultural situation of today. Through spiritual music, a person comes into contact with eternal moral truths and discovers for himself the highest harmony of the universe. Finally, from a cultural perspective, sacred music can become one of the forms of artistic knowledge of the world.
As a result of the painstaking work of representatives of Russian musical archeology (V. Undomsky, D. Razumovsky, V. Metallov) and Soviet musical paleography (M. Brazhnikov), the names of the masters of ancient Russian singing art were restored. D. Razumovsky laid the foundation for a systematic study of monuments of ancient Russian singing art. A.V. Preobrazhensky conducted a comparative analysis of Russian and Greek singing manuscripts of the 11th-12th centuries and came to the conclusion that, firstly, the znamenny notation of ancient Slavic singing books of Greek origin, adapted for singing the Slavic text, and secondly, the Greek notation was borrowed by the Slavs for recording Greek same church tunes. Third. These tunes could not be applied to Slavic texts without disturbing the melodic and rhythmic properties of the tunes, as well as the text itself.
The question of the essence and nature of the Russian octagon is of great scientific importance, because here lies the key to solving the general musical-historical problem about the degree of independence of ancient Russian singing art and its relationship to the Byzantine medieval musical system. Researchers have different opinions on this issue. D.V. Razumovsky, Y. Arnold, I.I. Voznesensky spoke out in favor of the Byzantine origin of the Russian octagon. A.D. was able to scientifically substantiate the originality of Russian folk thinking. Kastalsky. He pointed out the existence of folk songs in the so-called church or everyday scale. The question of the relationship of the oldest forms of znamenny chant to Byzantine church singing was put on solid scientific ground in 1906, when the Society of Lovers of Ancient Writing organized an expedition to Athos with the aim of studying ancient singing manuscripts.
Long-term neglect of this specific form of musical activity has led to significant losses. Soviet musicology (B. Asafiev, S. Skrebkov, Yu. Keldysh, M. Goshchareva, N. Seregina) has carried out significant work, which has made it possible to include a number of works in performance practice.
The lack of empirical material reflecting the musical life of the past has led to significant difficulties in understanding philosophical, aesthetic and musical problems.
The study of the singing art of Ancient Rus' covers the period from the end of the 10th to the end of the 17th century, from the moment Russia adopted Christianity (1988). Along with baptism, Christian singing art was borrowed from Byzantium. Upper limit This period is the time of displacement of the one-voice Znamenny chant from liturgical practice. As a result of the split in the Russian Orthodox Church (council of 1666-1667), European four-voice singing was officially adopted, and only the Old Believers preserved the ancient singing tradition in their services.
The purpose of the thesis is to study the religious and spiritual music of Ancient Rus' at the end of the 10th-17th centuries. Objectives: 1) show the contradictory nature of the relationship between music and religion; 2) how the spiritual culture of Byzantium was assimilated; 3) how the development of “Russian osmoglasia” took place; 4) consider the styles and genres of ancient Russian singing art, domestic monuments of hymnography of the late X-XVII centuries.
To understand Russian church singing of the late X-XVII centuries. it is necessary to observe the principle of historicism. Historical and logical analysis reveals the dialectical nature of the mutual connection between art and religion, artistic consciousness and religious consciousness, and explains the socio-historical necessity of this relationship.
To see the problem of the relationship between art and religion in its complexity and inconsistency, it is necessary to turn to analytical principles based on dialectical-materialist methodology.
The dialectical-materialist interpretation of cultural development is the basis for a theoretical explanation of the historical fact of interaction between art and religion. Historical and logical analysis not only reveals the dialectical nature of this relationship, but also explains its socio-historical necessity. The principles of historicism presuppose the use in work of all material of historical fact and empirical knowledge.
The following sources were used in the thesis: notolinear translations by M.V. Brazhnikov; published by Seregina N.S. texts of chants, provided with author's translations into modern Russian and chants translated into modern notation by the author of the study (based on Kryukov manuscripts of the late XV-XVII centuries). These sources are of great importance for the study of cult singing of the 10th-17th centuries. to identify the specifics of chants, style and genres of singing art.
When writing the work, we used “Stoglav”, a mandate letter of 1558 by the Stoglav Cathedral, and a resolution of the Council of 1649. These legislative acts The church sought to limit the development of the art of singing in the direction of its complexity.
The thesis used the works of Keldysh Yu., Uspensky N., Skrebkov S., Wagner G.K.. The research of these authors is aimed at studying the stylistic forms and directions of the art of singing, which appears to us as an integral part of religion and worship. Styles and forms are considered in their historical interdependence and contradictory unity.
The works of Allemanov D., Nikolsky N.M., Romanov L., Rosenchild y. are devoted to the problem of the relationship between musical art and religion. The contradictory nature of the relationship between music and religion is shown on extensive historical material.
The fourth issue of the Russian National Library is devoted to monuments of ancient Russian writing, which reflected the religious consciousness of Russian people of the 15th-17th centuries, and shows the important role of the Orthodox Church in the political and cultural history of medieval Russia.
Of great scientific value are the works of Seregina I.S., who is working on deciphering singing monuments, studying and analyzing them, although currently most researchers pay attention to general historical and related arts and a smaller part to church singing itself - its history, theory, and performing practice .
To avoid different interpretations of the concepts used in the thesis, it is worth focusing on such concepts as aesthetic and artistic, religion and church, religion and God. If the concepts of “aesthetic” and “art” are ambiguous, but still very close to each other, then the mutual substitution of such concepts as “religion” and “church”, “religion” and “God” is completely unacceptable. Religion is a worldview, and the church is an administratively ordered system. In the case of religion-God, it is necessary to clearly understand that religion is an objective reality.
I would like to dwell on a very common phrase - “religious art”. Designating piece of art as “religious”, we provoke in advance an attitude towards this work. That is, in this case, the attitude towards this art is determined not by its objective artistic significance, but by its adjective - “religious”. In relation to music, it is completely unacceptable. Music can evoke certain thoughts and feelings in us, but if religious ideas are absent in a person’s consciousness and feelings, then no art at all will bring them to life. What to do with cult art and especially with its specific forms. It would seem that there can be no objections to the definition of “religious art.” And yet, even purely ecclesiastical art is only as religious as the attitude towards it.
At one time, Christian patristics divided the entire sphere of art into two opposing types: religious, divine and worldly, devilish. The reasons and mechanisms of such a division have long been clarified and, nevertheless, modern theoretical thought cannot part with the traditions of medieval thinking, persistently affirming the idea of the presence of religious art. Hence the difficulties in finding criteria that determine the presence of religious art itself.
The thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters (the main part), a conclusion, and a list of references. The main part is devoted to the development of the ancient Russian singing art within the framework of such a social institution as the church, the features, styles and genres of the ancient Russian service; Old Russian song cycles are considered.
1. Musical art and the church in Ancient Rus'
.1 Cultural aspect of the baptism of Rus'
religious music ancient Russian singing
The question of the role of Russian Orthodoxy in the development of national culture is very complex. For a long time in socialist society, religion was viewed as foreign body. But this cannot be a reason to exclude it from the general context of cultural history.
By the time of the introduction of Christianity in Rus', the musical culture of the Eastern Slavs had no professional features. There are no attempts at theoretical understanding of musical art and the presence of any graphic-symbolic system for its recording. The people composed their songs according to impressions and feelings based on the phenomena of life itself. Folk musical creativity, not constrained by the ideas of Christian asceticism, not limited by the requirements of any theory, developed in a free manner of free improvisation and was passed on orally from generation to generation.
The presence of rich musical instruments among the pagan Slavs can be judged from archaeological excavations, images of musical instruments on surviving ancient frescoes, and from literature devoted to the study of this issue. The cumulative result of studying the listed sources makes it possible to conclude that the ancient Slavs knew musical instruments various types: drums - tambourine, drum; wind instruments - nozzle, zhaleyka, flute, bagpipes; strings - harp, whistle. In addition to everyday music-making, there was also cult music. But it did not bear those pronounced specific features that characterize the art of music in developed world religions. The absence of these specific features of cult art is determined by the very nature of pagan beliefs.
Religious ritual was not so much a means of communication, as in Christianity, but rather an essence, a goal, and acted as a necessary element of existing social existence.
The musical art of antiquity was multifunctional in nature. In addition to the calendar holidays of the pagan cult, the Slavs had in the custom of holidays on the most remarkable occasions and events of family and tribal life. The art of music, rooted in the soil of epic antiquity and pagan rituals, occupied a prominent place in ancient Russian life for a very long time even after the introduction of Christianity.
Thus, the musical culture of the Slavs in its ritual and family-everyday expression is a reality that takes its place in the history of world culture. It was this fact that determined the successful development of new elements of musical culture that found themselves on Russian soil in the process of Christianization of the Slavic peoples. That is, the seeds fell on fertile soil.
The Christian religion, which came to Rus' at the end of the 10th century, brought with it not only new ideas designed to contribute to the stabilization of Kyiv statehood and the establishment of feudal forms of social relations, but also religious intolerance, dating back to the Old Testament traditions, towards everything that was not consistent with the requirements of Christian orthodoxy. . In its denial of the culture of the past, including the art of music, Orthodox theology is limited to oral exhortations and instructions. The most ancient written monuments of Christian apologetic literature are replete with “examples” of the superiority of sacred music over secular music. Thus, in The Tale of Bygone Years, emphasizing that the moral imperfection of the pagan Slavs is realized in folk customs, Nestor writes: “And the Radimichi, Vyatichi and Northerners had a common custom: they lived in the forest like animals, ate everything unclean and dishonored themselves in front of their fathers And with their daughters-in-law, they didn’t have marriages, but they organized games between the villages, and they came together to these games, to dances and to all sorts of demonic songs ... "
From this passage it is clear that in orthodox dogma one of the main criteria of morality is the Christian denial of everything connected with the world of “ungodly paganism.”
Adherence to traditional forms of folk festivals and entertainment permeated all social strata of Ancient Rus'. The church's battle with the remnants of the old was a struggle for ideological influence. Her views on folk musical culture spread both through official channels (sermons, teachings, confessions) and through everyday culture.
What is the reason for this hostility of the church towards folk music? There are many of them, but one of them is the harsh and negative attitude of the church towards folk forms of musical art. This is due to the fact that music provokes a person to behavior that is far from the ideals of Christian piety and humility. Therefore, she herself turns into an unworthy phenomenon and, according to church ideas, is associated with something sinful. Due to this, both musicians and their instruments are perceived as an anti-world, opposing the Christian doctrine, which calls for righteous asceticism, contrary to pagan violence.
A sharp clash with pagan morals, customs, and the spirit of folk art was inevitable. But the new religion “not without a hard struggle... won a strong place for itself among the barbarian pagan tribes, and was not without mistakes on the part of too zealous propagators of the new teaching...”
The official church showed its intolerance not just to the art of music, but to those forms of it that did not fit into the canonical framework defining their ecclesiastical character, that is, the ability to provide a completely definite ideological orientation to the newly converted masses. Cult singing, which appeared on Slavic soil along with Byzantine worship, was the basis on which professional musical art was formed with all its inherent features: musical theory in the form of “church osmoglasiya,” a graphic-symbolic system for recording melodic material and the development of musical performance skills .
By the time Christianity was adopted in Rus', the typological structure of Byzantine worship had reached a fully formed state. Bright decorativeness, multifaceted dramaturgy and complex musical accompaniment required a high level of training and a certain school from the clergy. And songwriting and singing in the Orthodox Church have always required from the performer not only musical talent, but also special knowledge and extensive experience. In such a situation, it is natural that Rus', which converted to Christianity, at first could not do without Byzantine teachers. The issue of borrowing and continuity of musical art is very complex due to the paucity of musical sources proper, but nevertheless, domestic musical paleography has accumulated certain experience, using which we can say that the main teachers of Russian musicians were Greeks and Bulgarians.
It is difficult to say which of them had a greater influence on the development of cult music of the Russian church. However, if we take into account that worship is an organically integral phenomenon and was initially carried out by newcomers from Byzantium, then it can hardly be assumed that, guided by the instructions and books of Greek and Bulgarian teachers in the practice of religious worship, Russian clergy could at least at first demonstrate independence in matters of singing. “It took many years and the work of gifted songwriters before the art of music, subordinated to clerical tasks, acquired, in addition to Byzantine-ecclesiastical features, also national features.” In addition, special attention should be paid to the fact that, unlike political, legal and other innovations, the assimilation of spiritual culture is procedural in nature and cannot be reduced to either a church prescription or a state institution.
It seems that it is impossible to reduce the continuity of musical art to any single source. This is a multi-layered phenomenon, and therefore the musical culture of Kievan Rus, in theoretical terms, could rely on the church osmoglanie of Byzantium, borrow melodic material from related Slavic tribes who had already undergone cultural training from Byzantium, or create their own ethnically colored musical-cult language, and, finally, take The Greco-Syrians had a graphic-symbolic system for fixing their melodic material.
If the southern Slavic tribes bordering Byzantium experienced a more active cultural influence from their enlightened neighbor and more closely adhered to Greek traditions in cult singing, then the tribes located in more distant regions - northern and western - could experience the cultural influence of other Christianized peoples. Slavic tribes, removed from cultural centers and to some extent left to their own devices, very quickly forgot the Greek tunes that were alien to their ears, varying them to their taste, bringing them closer to their national folk song, reworking all the components of musical speech (melody, rhythm, intonation) in its ethno-regional spirit.
Thus, using the theoretical foundations of church osmoglasiya and based on Greek vocal chants, the Slavs gradually developed a kind of “osmoglasiya”. This process of Russification of cult professional music was also facilitated by the fact that the long absence of notation tools forced the learning process to be carried out by ear, orally, which led to a kind of “freethinking” in the field of liturgical and musical practice.
It should be noted that the unification of Greek tunes and folk music was not a free process of merging two directions in musical art. It was always controlled by the church, which made sure that the “worldly spirit” of pagan Rus' did not damage the strictly canonical hymns of the Christian church. From the musical heritage of pagan Rus', only that which was amenable to restructuring, behavior under the canon of church harmonization, and consistent with the tasks of religious education could be taken.
The mechanical transfer of musical theory to another musical culture distorts and impoverishes the latter. Something important from the spiritual wealth of the nation is being lost. Theologians themselves do not deny this fact. An example is the confession of priest D. Allemanov that “...Russian singers, sharing the same fate with singing, experienced some losses in their native art in order to get closer to others more freely.” artistic world…»
Thus, the process of professionalization of Russian musical culture under the auspices of Russian Orthodoxy was not a peaceful phenomenon. This was not just a process of mastering and assimilation of one culture by another, although this was present, but it was also a clash of two forms of musical thinking - the original Slavic and canonically defined, nurtured on the church requirements of the Byzantine. And only as a result of compromises and concessions was a completely new musical culture born, which became the official musical system - Znamenny singing, which will represent professional Russian musical art for many centuries, preserved in Old Believer cult practice to this day.
Thus, the introduction of the Slavs to the achievements of Byzantine musical culture was a very important step in the history of ancient Russian singing art, which largely determined the further development of the national musical art as a whole.
.2 On the relationship between aesthetic-artistic and utilitarian-didactic in the cult singing of Ancient Rus'
During the period of the spread of Christianity in Rus', Byzantine melodies, due to their national character, could not find those responses in the soul of the Russian people that the ideologists of the Christian religion sought. Therefore, the first steps of the Russian church singing school were attempts to “Russianize” the sound of chants, introducing their own melodic turns, and rethinking them in their own spirit. Subsequently, this led to the overwhelming Russification of church melodies. Moreover, the trend towards Russification of church singing continued throughout the “pre-Nikon” era, extending not only to the melody, but also to the texts of the chants. The dressing of church texts in Russian melodic fabric was also dictated by the desire to eliminate the logical incompatibility that arose from the combination of Slavic texts with Greek melodies.
The melodic-rhythmic pattern of Greek chants, being emotional support text, at the same time served as a means of highlighting important and significant places. When combining Greek melodies with Slavic text, this structure was upset. The activities of representatives of Russian Orthodoxy during the first two centuries of its existence were aimed at overcoming these contradictions in religious singing.
Based on studies of Russian and Soviet paleography, we can conclude that the basis of the cult music of Ancient Rus' was the “znamenny chant”. Znamenny singing received its name from the word “znamya” (the Slavic expression of the word “sign”), with which the melodies of this chant were notated, otherwise this type of singing was also called “pillar”. The last name generally means church, voice singing, since eight voices make up a “pillar”, i.e. “rank”, following it.
As a result of the development of Znamenny singing, two styles of chanting emerged: the large Znamenny chant and the small one. The melodic pattern of the large Znamenny chant was built from canonized chants - “kokiz”. The use of certain chants, their alternation and quantity within the specified voice were not determined by the church charter. The construction of the melodic line was determined by the artistic intent of the singer, the nature of the text being chanted, and the meaning of the chant during the service. Thus, each chant of the Great Znamenny Chant has a melodic expression peculiar to it alone.
The Great Znamenny chant was applied to modified chants of all kinds: stichera, troparia, irmos, prokeimnas, etc. In frequently used chants, the number of chants used was small. But on the twelve holidays and on the days of the “great saints” the chants are decorated with melodies consisting of a large number of “kokiz”. Moreover, the most vivid and melodic songs are selected. In the practice of the Russian church, the large Znamenny chant was also called singing according to “kokiz” (singing songs), and the small one - according to “similar ones”. This is their fundamental difference.
Kokiz can be defined as melodic stereotypes developed in the singing practice of the church. Each voice has its own supply of kokiz. In addition, there were kokyzes, common to all voices. Depending on the harmonic structure and melodic-rhythmic expression, kokizas have different uses. Minor or major mood, solemnity, sorrow, smoothness or liveliness, the majesty of the chants used - all this had to clearly correlate with the nature of the text being sung. The Church sought to enhance the edifying and didactic essence of chants with the help of melody. A similar relationship between text and melody was provided for both individual chants and entire cycles. So, for example, in the tunes of the “passionate” and “bright” weeks, the kokizas differ sharply from each other. They are not the same in the chants of the liturgy, matins, vespers, prayer service, and memorial service. It was the practice of large znamenny chant that was the school thanks to which Russian singers were able to break out of the framework of Byzantine osmoglasiya and create their own national singing art. Drawing attention to this fact, K.K. Rosenschild wrote: “The famous chant with its amazing melodic beauties goes back not so much to the religious hymns of Andrei Kritsky, but to Russian folk art. In addition, not only during public singing (“lyudi”), but also during choir singing (“lik”), singers from the people inevitably introduced into the melodic and choral style intonations and techniques characteristic to one degree or another of worldly, mainly peasant, singing "
The material for constructing the melodies of the small znamenny chant are the same kokizas, but unlike the large znamenny chant, freedom in the choice and possible combination of chants is absolutely excluded. All available kokizas are distributed into groups in which each kokiza has its own specific place. Any movement of singers from group to group or within a group is excluded. These canonized groups of kokiz make up the tunes of the small znamenny chant, called “podobnami”. Thus, cliché in singing “like” has been elevated to a principle, a canonical requirement.
In terms of its musical and artistic significance, the large znamenny chant is superior to singing according to the “similar” ones, but it is precisely this fact that did not allow it to gain widespread appreciation in church circles. This happened because singing according to the kokizas required knowledge of all the chants and the presence of an element of creativity, art, which not every choir member possessed. In addition, the free chanting of chants made it difficult for the church to control the performance. The use of folk song intonation by singers led to the “secularization” of cult singing. The listed “disadvantages” of the large znamenny chant determined the fact that in the practice of church singing the small znamenny chant occupies a dominant position.
Singing according to "similar" in itself excludes the element of creativity; here you can do without knowledge of the very structure of the tunes, it is enough to remember them. Both in form and content, these tunes are given to the performer in advance. This achieves ease in the performance of chants and monotony. Repeated listening to the main chants allowed listeners to very quickly remember the simple melodic turns of the small chant, which facilitated the process of edification and ensured the active participation of believers in the practice of religious worship. So, if in musical and artistic terms the Znamenny chant is preferable to the small one, then in utilitarian terms the advantage is on the side of singing “like one.”
At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, another type of chant appeared in the southern regions of Russia, called “Kievan”. It is a kind of modification and simplification of the Znamenny chant, carried out by South Russian singers using local melodic material. Lyricism and melody, combined with simplicity of presentation, created the prerequisites for the rapid and widespread spread of Kyiv chant throughout Russia. The pro-Byzantine orientation, which intensified in the first half of the 17th century, introduced two more chants into liturgical practice: Greek and Bulgarian.
The variety of chants used in the cult practice of the Russian Orthodox Church is dictated both by ethnic interests and by the fact that it makes it possible to subtly differentiate the correspondence between liturgical literature and melodic accompaniment. For example, the tunes of the Great Znamenny chant were distinguished by their drawn-out melody, severity of character, and dispassionate sound. That is why the “dogmatists”, i.e. chants that lay out the basics Christian doctrine, were sung in this vein. The Small Znamenny chant, distinguished by the simplicity of its melodies and the sad nature of its sound, was used in chants that were the personification of sorrow and repentance. The distinctive features of Greek chant were solemnity, liveliness and elation. Therefore, his tunes were widely used in chants that reflected the joyful and solemn moments of religious life. The Kievan chant carries some signs of universality, which made it possible to use it in all types of services.
The presence of a number of distinctive features in a particular chant does not exclude their internal kinship based on a single principle of construction and practical use of melodic material. The singer, using melodic chants of a particular voice, develops and builds a melodic pattern that accompanies a certain text. However, this is not a mechanical combination of vocal melodies, but a process in which an element of creativity is clearly visible.
The very fact of creating a new musical form did not determine its life activity. Only on the condition that it met the requirements of a church melody gave it the right to recognition. The next stage, stabilizing the newborn musical form, was notation, which graphically recorded the independence of the melodic pattern. Subsequently, this drawing and its artistic and expressive means were refined in the practice of the performers.
The melodic structures of this or that chant do not stop evolving here. Subsequently, the melody of church chants is improved in the development of strokes, details and melodic phrases, and in graphic symbolism new forms of clarity are developed for understanding the nuances of the developing melodic material. At the same time, there is a process of synthesizing canonized melodic structures with musical thinking of an ethnic order. As a result, in the singing practice of the Russian Orthodox Church there appears a large number of various ethnic and regional chants based on local musical material. A significant place was occupied by such chants as Bersenevsky, Vladimirsky, Kirillovsky, monastery, Nikodimov, Novgorod, Pskov, Radilov, Russian, skete, Smolensk, cathedral, Sofia, Tikhvin, Chernigov, Chudovsky, Yaroslavl, Christians or Moscow and others, formed from the main znamenny chant.
Such a rich variety of different ethnic and regional chants based on Znamenny singing is not accidental. This phenomenon stems from the historical and social conditions that developed in Rus' in the 13th-15th centuries. Feudalization had a significant impact on church organization. Byzantine church norms, inherent in Kievan Rus, were preserved only nominally by the end of the 13th century, and “...under their labels a purely local content developed; the form of church domination acquired a feudal character and was completely welded into one organic whole with the forms of secular feudal domination.” “Local content” not only determined the distinctive features of a particular feudal church, but also determined the variety of means included in the cult practice of a particular church community. This was one of the reasons for the emergence of diverse church chants based on melodic material of an ethnic and regional order.
Singing from the church book was very difficult. Not every singer mastered this art. Therefore, the canonized tunes were replaced by rather free improvisation, which very vaguely resembled the samples found in musical notation. In large administrative centers during bishop's services in famous churches, singing was performed even more or less according to the "rite", and in remote areas and remote provinces, where sometimes there were no church books, and the priest himself was often illiterate, the divine service was performed very close to charter. If violations of the charter were observed during ordinary services, then on the Twelfth holidays it was impossible to do without improvisation not only in the melodies of the chant, but also in its texts. Characterizing the cult practice of this period N.M. Nikolsky wrote: “The priests and clerics confused rites, prayers and exclamations in the most unceremonious manner, not only due to illiteracy, but also because until the end of the 14th century, many churches, and not only in villages, but even in such centers as Pskov , did not have proper liturgical books, and the rites memorized, of course, were quickly forgotten.”
The singing canon, represented by the Byzantine church osmoglasiya, was a direct reflection of the ideology of medieval Christianity. The so-called “dual faith,” which arose on the basis of Russian Orthodoxy, differed significantly from the ideological orientation of the Byzantine church. Even the “book people” and monks had the vaguest idea of the basic idea of Byzantine worship. The perception of religious action was carried out on an intuitive level. The uniqueness of the ethnic and regional musical language made liturgical practices understandable to parishioners.
The imperfection of hook notation also contributed to the emergence of various chants. Trying to make it easier to study, singing teachers added their own “marks” to the hooks, thereby causing different interpretations of the musical material. The spread of this phenomenon was also facilitated by the fact that the development of church singing during the period of feudal fragmentation and the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars was of an uncontrolled, spontaneous nature. The lack of contacts and regulatory principles in the development of cult music led to very free interpretations of the melodic material that filled the Russian osmoglasie, but also to phonetic freedom in relation to the texts of church chants.
The diversity of Orthodox worship manifested itself at the level of emotional and artistic design, in the sequence of rites, and in the textual basis. Thus, the changes affected not only the melodic material of the Byzantine osmoglas, but also the text of liturgical books, which underwent great changes during the period from the 10th to the 16th centuries. Based on this, Russian theology and domestic philology divide the development of the singing art of the “Donikon” era into three periods: from the 11th century to the middle of the 14th - the period of “ancient truth speech”, from the half of the 14th century to the middle of the 17th - the period of “separate speech” (“homony” ) and from the middle of the 17th century - the period of “new truth speech” or “right speech”.
The administrative unification of the Russian Church, completed in the 16th century, was a purely formal act. Feudal fragmentation and specific isolation at one time served as a serious obstacle to spiritual and cultural contacts.
The unification of church rituals, undertaken at the Stoglavy Cathedral, affected all components of the Orthodox cult, and church singing too. But the decisions of the council were poorly reflected in real life, and local cult practice was still a direct expression of the feudal independence that preceded the centralization of state power. It was necessary to replace the specific liturgical diversity with Moscow uniformity.
The reorganization of the church, which determined its subordination to monarchical power, was, in the current historical situation, a political act that suited representatives of both the secular and spiritual hierarchy.
Qualitatively new political relationships between spiritual and secular authorities led to a certain ideological restructuring of Russian Orthodoxy. The main task of the church is to inculcate an ideology that does not contradict the existing state system and social structure. To this end, church and government organizations are embarking on a radical restructuring of Orthodox worship. Reform activities The church affected all aspects of religious worship. She did not bypass cult singing either.
For the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, the inadmissibility of those forms of liturgical chants that developed in the historical practice of the previous period becomes obvious. To normalize the current situation, a royal decree was issued in 1652: “... if only all singing were in true river singing, everywhere in towns, holy monasteries and villages it was arranged equally and consensually,” after which a church-governmental commission was organized to correct liturgical singing, whose activities touched almost all aspects of this problem: the text of musical and liturgical books, notation, methods of using melodic material.
Characterizing the course of this process, one of the prominent theorists of the 17th century on cultural issues, A. Mezenets, wrote: “After those times, the reigning city of Moscow, in all cities and monasteries and villages, began to practice Znamenny singing; and did not come to unanimity. But because of their rudeness and zeal, there was little teaching on this great daring, and because of their daring everywhere, in all towns and villages, a great discord arose, so that in one church it became impossible not only by three or many, but also by two.” This state of affairs served as an obstacle to the unity of the church community during the exercise of religious worship.
In addition, there was an imperfection in the hook notation, which did not ensure absolute continuity of the melodic pattern, since it, refracted through the creativity of the performers, lost its stability.
Evolving in this way, the church melody gradually lost those features that were embedded in it in accordance with canonical requirements, that is, it acquired a sound that was very distant from the Christian Orthodox ideal.
In addition, “homonia” with its wide chanting, which significantly increased the time for singing chants, the intensive canonization of Russian saints and their inclusion in the structure of the Orthodox cult led to the practice of very protracted services. The need arose to reduce the time spent on worship. Since the entire volume of texts and the nature of their execution was approved by the church charter and deviations from the established norms were not allowed, there was only one possibility left for reducing the time for worship - performing prayers and chants at the same time. Some representatives of the clergy read certain prayers, and the singers at this time performed chants that complemented them. Thus, those present in the temple simultaneously heard several narratives of different content. While all components of the religious cult were preserved, their informative function was lost.
This state of affairs could not but worry the ideologists of Russian Orthodoxy. The first indications of the incompatibility of “multiharmony” with the tasks of the religious cult were heard already at the Stoglavy Council, which also developed practical recommendations for the reorganization of the Orthodox cult. But the resolutions of the Council had very little effect on the practice of religious singing, since the peasants opposed the restoration of “unanimity,” which lengthened the period of stay in the church.
The Church-Government Commission was faced with three priority tasks:
) correct the text of music and liturgical books according to ancient models;
) achieve uniformity in the graphic representation of hook banners;
) exclude polyphony from cult practice as a way of performing chants.
The commission, headed by Alexander Mezents, completed the tasks assigned to it. But the fruits of her activity did not have time to be practically implemented. The fact is that the art of Ancient Rus' was determined in its development by the demands of the church. Russian singers made a great contribution to the development of the national singing art. They managed to expand the scope of Byzantine osmoglasiya. But the growth of fits and songbirds gradually takes on ugly forms, leading to complete hypertrophy. The quantitative swelling of chants led to the fact that the system of vocal chants eventually began to become obsolete. The forward movement of the singing system stopped. There was a stop in the development of the chant itself as the basis of Znamenny singing. This marked the end of the entire Znamenny chant. Its decomposition as an official state system began. Such a carefully protected church musical system began to gradually lose its dominant position as not meeting the historically established requirements of modern times. This was one of the reasons that “partes” (polyphonic, harmonic) singing, which began to spread in the 17th century, did not meet a sufficiently serious competitor in the form of ancient Russian church singing. With the expansion of the sphere of partes singing, the use of Old Russian singing is becoming less and less. Almost two centuries of passion for the newfound singing led to the gradual oblivion of its predecessor, loyalty to which was retained only in particularly conservative monasteries and Old Believer hermitages.
When designing religious rites, the church, both in the past and now, pays main attention to the correspondence of the text and the accompanying melodic pattern. As a result of the relationship between the art of music and religion, clear requirements and rules were developed that determined the necessary, from the point of view of the church, relationship between these two components of religious singing.
The Church was afraid of the expansion of artistic means, the increase and complexity of musical material, since the chants became inaccessible to parishioners participating in religious activities. In this case, those present in the temple became passive contemplatives.
The Church did not care about the musical and artistic impression on listeners. If the aesthetic feeling, born in the process of perceiving “church music,” prevails, then it will overshadow the religious feeling. Therefore, the church sought to dogmatize and canonize the existing forms of religious ritual music, and to reasonably balance the relationship between religious and aesthetic content in it.
As soon as the art of musical singing tried to go beyond the church fence, to realize its own ideals, to make its works more complex in thought and form, the church protested, did not accept this and again put it in the position of one of the means with which it accomplishes its work.
The church saw a particular danger in the penetration of secular sound into cult music. The history of the art of singing is one of prohibitions, regulations and reforms aimed at protecting church music from elements of secularism. The penetration into cult singing of sounds that are a reflection of reality evokes in parishioners associations associated with extra-church life.
And yet the musical art of Ancient Rus' is highly artistic examples. Emphasizing the utilitarian nature of religious singing, it must be said that church music also solved aesthetic and artistic problems. Since with all the efforts to limit church singing from the realistic, this was not always possible, because the people's musical wealth penetrated through the densest barriers of church censorship.
It would be a huge mistake to reject a huge section of the national musical art simply because it was used by the church.
2. Styles and genres
.1 Some features of Russian sacred music of the X-XVII centuries.
Orthodox music is an area of spiritual culture of society. Like all musical art, sacred music is multifunctional. Two aspects can be distinguished in it: part of musical culture and a form of worship. The first, broader aspect is associated with its universal human values - aesthetic and moral. With the second, narrower in meaning, religious.
What are the features of ancient Russian sacred music? Firstly, it is a special internal structure, composure, and most importantly cleanliness and openness. No falsehood, hypocrisy, understatement. Secondly, this music does not allow extremes, excessive emotionality, or sensitivity. The entire range of feelings, moods, thoughts - from grief, sadness to joy and jubilation - do not cross the boundaries of what is permitted when the harmony of the musical fabric is not destroyed. Harmony is the basis of sacred music. No excessive expression, emotional explosions, shocks, dissonant sounds, sharp rhythm, sharp angular melody. Nothing flashy, pretentious, or external. Everything is proportionate and orderly. Music calls a person to harmony with the world, to the harmony of his feelings and thoughts, it instills peace and concentration.
The traditional style of ancient Russian sacred music is distinguished by its sublimely stern sound, calmly measured rhythm, and plastic melodies. There is no internal conflict in it, there is no struggle between opposing forces. Listening to church singing, a person feels like a part of the universe, part of the great harmony of the world.
The fundamental basis of sacred music is the canonical word. Therefore, every chant is a sung prayer. For one text of prayer in different times, unknown and famous singers composed many chants. Most important signs sacred music:
) it is part of the divine service, part of the church cult, its artistic complex and performs a corresponding function in it;
) sacred music is based on a strict canonical text of prayer, therefore its performance in church is strictly regulated by time of day, days of the week and year;
) chants are performed without instrumental accompaniment;
) bell ringing is the only possible musical instrument in Orthodox culture.
Old Russian service chants, as a rule, are recitative, with a simple melodic and rhythmic pattern, and are simple enough for choral performance. The main thing in them is the canonical text, and the music is intended only to sing the word.
The styles of church music are associated with two eras of its historical development - before the middle of the 17th century and after. The style of ancient Russian church music of the late X-XVII centuries is Znamenny singing. It is not homogeneous. One of the types of znamenny chant is stolpovoy. It is characterized by the following features: per syllable of the text there are two - three, less often four tones. The melody may include melismatic insertions - fits. Pillar chant is distinguished by a wide variety of chants and a rich rhythmic pattern. The main chant books - Irmology, Octoechos, Triodion, Daily Life, Holidays - are sung by this type of Znamenny chant.
Another type is the small znamenny chant. Recitative in nature, it is used primarily in daily services. The emergence of the “big” Znamenny chant dates back to the 16th century. Its creators include the famous singers Fyodor Krestyanin, Savva Rogov and their students.
In the middle of the 16th century, the znamenny record was enriched by the introduction of cinnabar litter. Unlike banners, which were painted with paint, marks were depicted with red cinnabar and indicated the exact pitch of the sound. This invention belonged to the Novgorod singer Ivan Shaidurov. Znamenny chant served as the basis for travel and demestvenny chant, and was also preserved as a theme in partes singing.
The complex melodic pattern had a demean chant. The head of the school of Moscow singers, Vasily Rogov, is considered its creator. Kondakar and demestvenny singing was used on the occasion of celebrations and holidays. The name of Vasily Rogov is also associated with the first church polyphony - line singing, characteristic feature which had two or three voices, written in banners in two or three rows above the text, with all the voices developing parallel to the main - middle voice.
Partes four-voice singing was brought to Rus' in the middle of the 17th century. Like the banner, it had no instrumental accompaniment; it retained the system of osmoglasis. The simplest form partes singing - harmonization of znamenny chant placed in the tenor part. To record partes singing, a five-line notation was required, called the “Kiev letter,” in which the notes were square.
Simultaneously with partes four-voice singing, new chants appear in Rus' - Kiev, Greek, Bulgarian, which, along with Znamenny, are established as the thematic basis of church singing. All these chants are subject to the osmoglas system.
Concluding the review of styles of church music, we can turn to the statement of V. Martynov: “Now in our liturgical singing the European laws of melody construction, brought to us in the middle of the 17th century from the West and reduced to three main provisions: linear notation, contrapuntal technique and tonality, reign supreme. -harmonic system... Secular singing in church is alien to the praying soul, it does not nourish or saturate it spiritually.” Thus, Martynov believes that the true Russian singing is Znamenny and it needs to be restored and revived, like ancient icons.
2.2 On the hierarchy of genres in the Old Russian service
In the process of studying the ancient Russian singing art as an integral artistic system, the question arises about its genre content, about the existence within the framework of this system of musical and literary forms endowed with certain genre characteristics.
Research into Old Russian chants as individual elements of a whole from the point of view of their genre content is difficult. This is due to the fact that “the names of chants, historically developed in singing practice, are not always genre definitions. Many chants got their name based on extra-musical and extra-literary features. Certain names are associated with determining the place of hymns in the service: the hymns, for example, are used instead of singing “It is worthy to eat”, the prokeimnyas (translated from Greek - lying in front) are sung before the reading of Holy Scripture, the sacraments are chanted during the communion of ministers in the altar. In the names of other chants, the foreground comes to the method of performance (antiphons - alternately with two faces), katavasia - (Greek - descent - in the middle of the temple with two faces together) or its conditions (when performing sidals and kathismas, one was allowed to sit).
This led to the fact that some researchers came to the conclusion that genre definitions depend only on the function that a particular chant served in a church service.
Meanwhile, ancient Russian masters, when creating a service dedicated to some holiday of the church calendar, strove to achieve its artistic integrity. The service was intended to glorify the saint, to surprise the listener with his holiness. It was composed of disparate parts in a certain sequence, aimed at maintaining the attention of parishioners. The creators of the service knew what place the chant, endowed with certain expressive means, would take in the overall context of the service.
It is necessary to establish the presence of genre differentiation in the ancient Russian singing art, which is determined not only by the function of chanting in worship, but also by its musical and literary content. This content consists of the interaction of the literary principle, based on conceptual language, and the musical (non-conceptual). Therefore, chants contain two types of information - conceptual and emotional. “Their interaction, being a necessary condition for the existence of such a syncretic type of artistic creativity as ancient Russian singing art, created a qualitatively new phenomenon in which either conceptual or emotional information came to the fore.” sometimes their ratio reached equilibrium.
In addition to clarifying genre differences, it is necessary to build these genres in the form of a certain hierarchical system, in which the location of the chant is predetermined by the means of expression used in it.
Generalizations and conclusions can be drawn from the study of the chants of Vespers and Matins from the service for the day of memory of the Russian prince Mikhail of Chernigov and his boyar Theodore (September 20).
In order to identify genre definitions among the names of Vespers chants, it is necessary to provide a complete list of them.
The entire sequence of Vespers chants is reduced to the following names: kathisma, verses of psalms, stichera (“I cried to the Lord,” “On the verse”), prokeimenon, troparia, “chorus” (the name given by researchers to the lines that conclude the kathisma is “Glory to the Father and son and the holy spirit" (its first part), "And now, and ever, and forever and ever" (2nd), - and is not an independent chant. The kathisma itself is a selection of psalms. The verse of the psalm is also a prokeimenon. , sung before the reading of Holy Scripture. Thus, the whole variety of Vespers chants, when considered from the point of view of their content, implies a narrower circle: stichera, troparia and sung verses of psalms.
At Matins, in addition to stichera, troparions and psalm verses, a special form is presented by the canon, which contains a whole series of hymns that have different names: irmos, troparion, theotokion, katavasia. Despite the different names, all these chants are similar in content, since they are sung according to the Irmos model. Therefore, the main means of expressing the canon are contained precisely in the irmos. Consequently, these chants should be considered the initial ones for identifying the genre content of the canon.
Of the variety of names of chants contained in the two parts of the service as genre definitions, several stand out: stichera, troparion, sung verses of psalms, irmos. Here you can also include the so-called inter-songs (sung between the songs of the canon), kontakion and luminaries. Each of these chants is endowed with a certain type of expressiveness, has its own place in the service, fixed by the Charter, and occupies a certain level on the hierarchical ladder, in the form of which all genres can be arranged.
The lower rungs of this ladder will be represented by readings, which represent an important constructive and semantic element in the service. The method of performing readings - prosody, chanting, is a special means of expression, which, contrasting with the previous and subsequent chanted texts, at the same time does not stand out from the general line of successive elements, since the basis of the readings is the same chanting the beginning, as in the other links that make up the service.
The next steps will be occupied by the verses of the psalms. At the lowest level there will be short chants consisting of one verse (line of text), preceding any other chants or readings. These include the verses “Lord, I cried...”, “God, Lord...”, prokemna, communion. All these chants have common features: 1) form - verse of a psalm; 2) type of chant - syllabic (syllable - sign); 3) method of performance - choir with the participation of parishioners.
Such chants are designed to concentrate the attention of listeners to perceive the following material. At the same time, they are carriers of a collective-personal principle: these verses of the psalms contain an appeal to God on behalf of each participant in the action (the singer and the parishioner).
At a somewhat higher level are the verses of the psalms, enclosed in a larger form, such as kathismas. They are made up of three antiphons (each antiphon is called “glory”, since it ends with “Glory to the Father and the Son...”). The name of the antiphon reflects the method of performance - the verses of the psalms are sung in turn by each face, in the chorus both faces are united in a common sound. As a rule, parishioners do not participate in the performance of kathismas.
The Charter assigns a certain place to the kathismas in the service: the beginning of Vespers (1st antiphon of the 1st kathisma “Blessed is the man”) and the beginning of Matins, where the remaining kathismas are sung in the order established by the Charter, in accordance with the day of the week.
The type of chant that characterizes kathismas is syllabo-melismatic with short intrasyllabic chants.
The next step in the hierarchical ladder is the canon. Its entire large-scale composition is divided into nine songs, and the main literary and musical content of each song is concentrated in the initial irmos.
All the chants of the canon, with the exception of the inter-songs, are similar in the following: they are small and not complex in form (often one-part). They are characterized by a narrative beginning, a presentation of an event. Hence the predominant type of chant is syllabic, since the material here is subordinated to the need for a clear presentation of the word. Only in the last songs does fita appear occasionally and melismatic areas are interspersed. The chants in the canon are sung antiphonally - alternately by both faces, with the exception of katavasiya, which is performed by both faces at a gathering in the middle of the temple.
Stichera are chants that represent a higher level in relation to the previous one. The term unites phenomena that differ in some ways: stichera, sung in a similar way and included in microcycles of three stichera “on the Lord, I cried”, “on the stichera”, “on the praise”; included in microcycles, but self-vocal stichera and, finally, slavniks - even more independent in chant (not included in microcycles) and solemn chants. They will occupy the corresponding steps of the hierarchical ladder. At the bottom there will be stichera chanted similar to each other with their close dependence on each other and on the model, then there will be self-vocal stichera and, finally, slavniks. But they all have similar features: most often a three-part form, a syllabic type of chant with significant sections of melismatics - fits, chanted in the culminating sections of the form.
The next steps will be occupied by troparia, kontakia and lamps. These chants differ from the previous ones in their general content and emotionally uplifting character. Therefore, they correspond to a type of chant with extended intrasyllabic chants. Moreover, in each subsequent level of chant (troparia - kontakion - luminaries), melismatics occupies an increasingly significant place.
These chants were intended for solo performance. Therefore, they are much more complex than other genres.
It is also important that these chants appear at the climax of the service. Troparion - at local culminations (at the end of Vespers and the beginning of Matins); kontakia on a larger area - in the canon; The luminaries become the main culmination of the service, prepared by the entire previous development of literary and musical material.
Thus, the main genres of ancient Russian singing art, arranged in a certain hierarchical sequence, represent a system, each level of which differs from others in the features of literary and musical content: the predominance in it of conceptual or emotional information, personal or socially significant principles. Moreover, “the personal principle is more often expressed in chants intended for choral performance, the impersonal-objective - in solo songs.”
Solo, antiphonal and joint choral performance is associated with different levels of the genre hierarchical ladder. In this we can draw a parallel with the ideas of a medieval person about the heavenly hierarchy, in which the upper steps are occupied by individual characters - God the Father, Christ, the Mother of God, below - the apostles, prophets, saints, warriors, martyrs, and in the images each subsequent row is more numerous. “This is one of the evidences of the unity of the artistic method of the ancient Russian master, whether he was a singer or an icon painter, based on certain stable ideas that are uniquely embodied in various phenomena of artistic creativity.”
The conceptual and emotional information, the carrier of which is Old Russian chant, is associated with the type of chant characteristic of each genre: conceptual information is transmitted by the syllabic type of chant, emotional information - by the melismatic one. Between them there are intermediate stages.
And, finally, in accordance with the level of chants, they occupy a certain place in the service: chants of the lower levels - in the initial and developing sections of the service, of the upper ones - in the climax.
Thus, a certain type of expressiveness, characteristic of chants located at different levels of the genre hierarchy, provides the opportunity for compilers of the service to use them at the necessary moments of dramatic development. The meaningful use of different genres of chants and the corresponding types of expressiveness, their alternation in the service, allowed ancient Russian masters to create an artistically integral work, which was a liturgical action.
2.3 Genres of ancient Russian singing art
The fate of monuments of ancient Russian musical writing is varied. Some works were directly related to literary works, while other works of ancient Russian singers were not related to specific events, but for centuries occupied an important place in the practice of Orthodox worship.
In accordance with the general direction in the development of ancient Russian musical culture, the formation and development of individual genres and cycles of chants, recorded in numerous handwritten codes, took place.
Old Russian singing art is traditionally considered in the system of hymnographic genres that came to us from Byzantium with the adoption of Christianity. But under the influence of the Byzantine genre system, a new type of singing culture emerged in Rus'.
The newly created works are most fully represented in the corpus of chants dedicated to events national history. They developed in the tradition of the cult of saints and local celebrations of the lord’s and theotokos icons, characteristic of the Middle Ages. According to the stereotype of the Byzantine service, on the day of celebration of this or that saint, chants of different genres were used. The most numerous group of chants were stichera. According to their place in the service, according to the structure of the text and chant, the stichera were divided into several varieties and recorded in a special song book, which has come down to us in hundreds of lists from the 11th to the first half of the 17th century, called the “Monthly Stichera,” and in the second half of the 17th century it was transformed into the book “Trezvony”, the existence of which extends among the Old Believers to the present day. The predominant part of these singing books has reached us in the notation of the hook - znamenny, travel, demestvenny - notation, a small part - in the notolinear notation of the late 17th - first half of the 18th century.
“The monthly stichera” is a liturgical handwritten book of stable composition, containing works of one musical and poetic genre - stichera for the holidays of the calendar circle of church practice in Ancient Rus' from September 1 to August 31.” It reflects the events of Russian history more than other singing books (Irmologiya, Oktoekha, Triodion).
The word "stichera" is of Greek origin and can be translated as "row, line, verse." A stichera is defined as a “song of praise and thanksgiving” with elements of a narrative about the exploits of the saint sung in it, sometimes with dramatic elements, with elements of a monologue or dialogue between characters.
Stichera constitute only one genre of ancient Russian singing art, but there is a wide variety of forms - from the simplest short chants performed in similar fashion to developed and complex compositions.
In the terminology of the stichirary, chants are divided into genre varieties according to their place in the service of the day and according to their structural and intonation relationships with the original canonical stereotype.
The stichera, which follow in groups, are divided into “similar” and “self-concordant”. Both instructions are written at the first of the three stichera and refer to the entire group of chants. Stichera with the indication “similar” are similar to each other and go back to the corresponding self-similar indicated in the title; stichera with an indication of self-voice are different in tune within the same voice. “Similar” stichera have a line form - five, six or more lines. The succession of “similar” stichera forms a form of repeated construction (since the stichera are similar in tune). The succession of “self-concordant” stichera forms a more dynamic form with elements of reprisal.
The second genre subsystem consists of slavniks. These are the largest stichera, extended and expressive in melody, melismatic and syllabo-melismatic style. They are characterized by images of glorification, celebration, and festivity.
Stichera for Russian holidays sounded throughout the historical existence of ancient Russian singing art, covering all its styles: znamenny chant, elements of kondakar singing, travel and demestvenny chants, demestvenny polyphony, baroque concert.
The chants of Russian holidays were determined by the intonation vocabulary of the era and were composed according to the laws of hymnographic genres. The main intonation sphere of chants is znamenny chant with its system of voices, chants, modal features of the monodic style, and the structure of standard compositions. At the same time, individual elements of musical language are noticeable in these stichera.
These chants existed in the church tradition, when a folk epic tradition lived behind the walls of churches: epics and historical songs were sung, dedicated to the images of folk heroes-intercessors, tales of historical events of past times.
The saints of Ancient Rus', like the heroes, were also its intercessors, angels of the heavenly army, guarding the Russian land. Therefore, epic power is also heard in the verses on Russian holidays. In the singing style that was formed in the temple over the centuries, all the song achievements of folk art received new development.
The next subject of study is the Blessed genre. The chants included in the notated Octoechos, Triodion and Obikhod and defined in it by the term “Blessed” are associated with the plot of the “noble thief” set out in the apocryphal “Correction of the Two Thieves”. The events of the story cover two moments: the first is associated with the flight of Joseph with the Virgin Mary and the baby to Egypt, when they fall into the hands of robbers; the second - with the crucifixion of Christ, when on both sides of the cross, by order of Pilate, two robbers were crucified - the sons of those who had captured Joseph at one time. One of them, the “prudent robber”, once fed by the Mother of God, believed in the divine origin of Christ. This event served as the plot basis for the chants called “Blessed.”
The blessed ones constitute the third of the “picture”, that is, glorifying antiphons performed in the second part of the Liturgy of John Chrysostom (the so-called Liturgy of the Catechumens) and sounded during the Lesser Entrance.
In addition to the main name “Blessed”, the chants in the manuscripts were called irmos, self-glases. Nikolsky distinguished them as troparia. “Troparion (tpopapiov - I turn) - church hymn. The verses following the irmos in the canon are called troparia because they address the irmos, lead a series of thoughts from it, and in the singing itself obey the rhythm and current of the irmos. Troparia or songs found outside the canon and composed without imitation of the irmos are so named because for singing they turn to a given voice in the week. Their content includes a prayer song that expresses the essence of the sacred event being celebrated and remembered or depicts the main features of the life and work of the glorified saint.”
The term “Blessed” is the self-name of the chants and is not directly related to its content, as happens in some genres, for example, in the Mother of God, to the function performed in the service, as in stichera; to the form of chants, as in antiphons. It comes not even from the chant itself, but from the text preceding it. In this regard, “Blessed” is close to the type of chants that received their name after following some episode in the service. Works of the same type may include, for example, stichera on “The Lord has cried,” which are sung after Psalm 120, “I have cried to the Lord.” Therefore, the term “Blessed” does not contain any genre characteristics.
The definition of these chants as irmos (as well as troparia) occurs in a figurative sense, because do not constitute canon. Irmos is the first troparion in the song of the canon, which, being plot-related with the corresponding biblical song, links it in content with other troparions.
The definition of “self-accordant” in relation to the Blessed Ones also provides information only about the musical content of the chants - independent, not related to the principle of singing “like”.
To the greatest extent, the genre essence can correspond to the characteristics of only the troparion in its second meaning (a troparion outside the canon, where “a prayer song expressing the essence of the remembered event” is supposed), although such content is quite common in stichera and in other works.
If, when determining the genre of individual chants, one has to proceed from self-names, then the definition of the entire group of chants as a whole as a cycle is based on the concepts of music of the New Age. The use of the term “cycle” in relation to works of church singing art is discussed in the research literature.
The chants of church singing art, united by any one name and written out together, in one group, in a strict eight-voice or genre sequence in the practice of worship are not necessarily used all at once, which is typical for cycles in the music of the New Age. Their sound in worship is often separated by at least a week, and combining chants of the same type together is nothing more than a form of recording that does not change the principle of the chant at all.
But it is possible to consider a group of works of the same type (or the same title) as a cycle, regardless of whether the works are written out together or separately. The point here is not only that they are dedicated to the same plot and are used in the same ritual situation, although this is significant. Old Russian masters considered them as a single group of chants. This is confirmed by the fact that changes in some episodes affected the entire group of works at the same time.
The connection of chants with one plot or one idea, their performance at the same moment of the service, and the introduction of innovations simultaneously into all works allow us to call this group a cycle.
The “Blessed” genre is one of the many types of chants used in Orthodox worship. They arose in the middle of the 16th century and belonged to everyday works. The highest point in the evolution of monody was the creation of an independent chant of the Blessed. The creation of polyphonic interpretations of this cycle of chants proceeded similarly to the monody interpretations: the general structure and principle of sound were preserved, and innovations concerned the melodic-rhythmic variation of turns. As a result, monody and polyphony were subordinated to the tradition of church singing art.
Russian music has amazing creations that reveal the inner world of man. These works are associated with the embodiment of sorrowful experiences, crying, tears.
Images of lamentation - in literature, fine arts, music - permeate Russian spiritual culture with a special intonation of compassion and empathy. Laments are the least known in ancient Russian professional music. Having identified the chants in the ancient Russian art of singing, the literary text of which is a lament, it is discovered that these chants have different purposes, relate to different types of service chants (stichera, troparia, Holy Cross) or go beyond the scope of worship (penitential and spiritual verses). This group of chants can be designated by the term “lament chants.”
Many of them belong to the most ancient monuments of ancient Russian singing art. Already the oldest Russian singing manuscripts (from the 12th century) contain these chants. A significant number of laments are recorded in the song book of the Lenten Triodion.
From the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. in singing manuscripts their number increases significantly. New texts of laments are sung, which were previously only read. From the end of the 15th century, non-liturgical lyrics (penitential poems) began to take shape, in which important role plays an image of the psychological states of crying, sobbing, tears.
The tradition of Old Russian laments was continued in Old Believer songwriting (in spiritual poetry); the plots and images of laments are reflected in a new way in the music of a different tradition that has experienced various influences - in numerous cants and psalms of the 17th-18th centuries.
A whole group of ancient Russian chants is associated with the plot of “The Lament of the Virgin Mary”. The mourning of the sufferings of her son by the Mother of God, standing at the cross with the crucified Christ, is one of the key events in sacred history.
Unlike many other ancient Russian laments, which are lamentations of repentance (Lamentation of Adam, etc.), the Lamentation of the Mother of God is associated not with repentance, but with mourning. Mourning is not crying for yourself, but showing compassion for someone else.
The Lament of the Mother of God is a rare example of lamentation in ancient Russian music, in contrast to the large number of repentant laments. This is explained by the nature of crying and mourning. If lamentations and repentance are directly related to book sources, to the moral teachings of Christianity, then lamentation is rooted in paganism. In popular funeral lamentations, which reflected the ancient pagan worldview, death is portrayed not as a messenger of peace and joy, as Christianity portrays it, but as the sworn enemy of humanity.
In the religious tradition, only one person could be mourned - Christ. The proximity of the Lamentation of the Virgin Mary folk tradition, the generally understandable feeling of grief of a mother mourning the death of her son - determined the vitality and prevalence of this plot in the art of singing.
In the church music of Ancient Rus' there were a large number of hymns about the Lamentation of the Virgin Mary. The significance of the Lamentation of the Virgin Mary in ancient Russian singing art is determined by the fact that hymns on this subject were part of the services almost every day throughout the church year. Special meaning hymns about the Lamentation of the Mother of God are acquired during Lent, when the sufferings of Christ on the cross (and the mourning of the Mother of God over him) are remembered.
In ancient Russian music there are both hymns directly dedicated to the plot of interest to us (the Holy Cross, troparia and stichera from the service of the Passion of Christ), as well as monuments that include the Lamentation of the Virgin Mary as a fragment. These include, for example, the stichera for kissing the shroud on Holy Saturday “Come, let us bless Joseph of ever-memorable...”.
The hymns of the Holy Cross are distinguished by their great variety and vastness, the very name of which reveals the plot situation: The Virgin Mary at the Cross. Collections of Holy Cross collections have appeared since the middle of the 16th century - during the heyday of ancient Russian singing art.
The Holy Cross was sung in all eight voices of the ancient Russian osmoglasiya. In manuscripts they were placed as part of the song books Octoechos and the Lenten Triodion, in collections that could form an independent section of the song collection. From the second half of the 16th century, the terminology was also formalized (the name “the Holy Cross”).
Single chants are found in manuscripts from the 15th century. They indicate when one or another of the Holy Crosses should be sung (with varying degrees details may only indicate the day of the week or the day and place in the service). The Holy Cross was intended to be performed at evening services on Tuesday and Thursday, and at morning services on Wednesday and Friday. The largest number of the Holy Cross dates back to Friday (Friday is the day of the Passion of Christ).
Observations of the musical and graphic material of the existing lists of the Holy Cross reveal the presence of two different traditions of chanting these texts. The first of them, the eldest, is characterized by strict syllabicity (one syllable of the text corresponds to one chanting sign), and a great rarity of fit signs.
Another tradition that appeared in the 17th century is associated with a more fractional division of the literary text, an increase in intra-syllable chant, and the number of fit and facial marks.
The emergence of a new tradition of chanting the Holy Cross is associated not only with the general trends in the development of singing art towards greater chanting and closer proximity to folk song intonations.
The life story of each text is individual. Different tunes of the same text were intended to be performed in different days. A number of chants of the Holy Cross form groups that display a noticeable melodic similarity, as if sung to the same pattern - “similar”. However, the presence of such a thing, with the exception of isolated cases, is not noted in the manuscripts.
You can trace the development of the chant of the Holy Cross using the example of two monuments. the first example is the earliest known crucifixion “Seeing you crucified”, tone 6. The second example is the crucifixion in the eighth tone “A lamb (young woman) undefiled, seeing the young man on the tree.”
The first example belongs to the older tradition of “voicing” the text: most banners are unanimous; no feats. Symptomatic significant amount stops - recitative signs.
The second example has a different picture. The melodic-graphic material in all lists (from the mid-16th century to the end of the 17th century) shows stability. The intonation of crying gives the chant individuality and originality.
In these examples of intonation we see a smooth, progressive movement; there are few jumps. Basically these are ascending and descending second intonations (crying), singing.
In another group, the intonations of the chants of the Holy Cross are distinguished by the gradual descending intonations in the monologues of the Mother of God.
Descending second intonations can be considered as intonations of crying, moaning.
Consideration of the musical and poetic cycle of the Holy Cross allows us to call it a significant monument of ancient Russian church lyrics, which reflected the emergence of new elements of musical style. (This was the general trend in the historical development of Znamenny chant.) Reflecting general development ancient Russian singing art, chants of the Holy Cross are also characterized by their own tendencies. This was manifested in the design of “lamentable” intonations associated with the specifics of poetic texts.
In medieval singing art, the Lamentation of the Virgin Mary developed exclusively in the forms of liturgical monodic singing. This first stage was completed by the end of the 17th century. The second stage (XVIII-XIX centuries) belongs to a different historical era, when the period of the Russian Middle Ages ended, and new forms and styles developed in musical art, largely due to Western European influence.
3. Hymns to Russian saints
.1 Chants about Kievan Rus
In order to imagine the singing art of that era in its sound, you need to see with your own eyes the preserved churches of Kyiv, Chernigov, Polotsk, Novgorod, Vladimir. You need to mentally embrace all this beauty in order to realize that such a magnificence of the temple space should be filled with equally majestic and beautiful music.
In singing manuscripts of the late XI-XVII centuries. contains more than twenty song cycles dedicated to pre-Mongol Rus'. Their circle developed in two stages: the first is limited to the era of pre-Mongol Rus', the second period falls on the XV-XVII centuries.
In Kievan Rus, services to Boris and Gleb, Theodosius of Pechersk, and Euphrosyne of Polotsk arose. In the lists of the XIV-XVII centuries. cycles for Prince Vladimir, Leonty of Rostov, Princess Olga, and Anthony of Pechersk have been preserved.
It’s most natural to start the list of Russian holidays with a service to Princess Olga. This is the most ancient Russian saint. The history of these chants is mysterious.
All identified lists date back to the last quarter of the 16th-17th centuries. In the manuscript RNB, KB 586/843, the text dates back to the end of the 16th century, and the notation (in the section of chants to Princess Olga) dates back to the first half of the 17th century.
The musical content can be restored using the notation written above the text of the chants. Analytical correlation of the text with the tunes (notation) gives the researcher the key to revealing the poetic form. Filling this text with musical timing reveals the ancient author’s mastery of the energy of rhythm.
The language of the chants of the service to Olga gives grounds to attribute this text to early stage development of Russian hymnography. Having emerged as a work of high singing art, the service to Olga did not, however, become widespread in the 12th century and only in a few copies passed into the tradition of the 16th-17th centuries.
The cult of Olga was combined with the cult of Prince Vladimir, like the cult of the Byzantine saints Constantine and Helen. The reign of Vladimir (980-1015) was marked by the unification of Russian lands and the expansion of the borders of the state. The service to Prince Vladimir has survived to this day in the lists of the 13th-17th centuries.
The cult of Boris and Gleb was established in memory of the Russian princes who innocently died in the princely internecine struggle for the Kiev throne in 1015. Their humble death was interpreted as a feat of non-resistance. In the services to Boris and Gleb, the invincibility of holiness, brotherly love, and therefore participation in divine grace are glorified.
The dating of the cult and works about these saints is a complex issue. It ranges from the 20s of the 11th century to 1072. The older lists of stichera were preserved in the service menaion of the late 11th and early 12th centuries. The corpus of hymns to Boris and Gleb, based only on the 12th century copies, contains 24 stichera, 2 canons, 3 kontakia, ikos, sedalion and luminary. As monuments of the art of singing, the chants of Boris and Gleb have been poorly studied.
Theodosius of Pechersk is a famous figure of the 11th century. He had a great influence on the socio-political life of his time. The role of Theodosius in the organization of professional singing art was great: He had to introduce the Studio Charter in Rus', and therefore the repertoire of statutory singing. Ancient copies of Theodosius of Pechersk are contained in the following manuscripts: the self-vocal stichera “You will come and join us” - NLR. Soph. 384, L. 97 - 97 about (SK, No. 54).
Among the oldest original domestic monuments is the cycle of Euphrosyne of Polotsk, which made a great contribution to the culture of Kievan Rus. She founded two monasteries in Polotsk, and the most valuable works were created by her order. applied arts.
The most complete cycle of chants of this saint is presented in the stichirary of the Russian National Library, KB 586/843 (late 16th century).
3.2 Chants about the opposition of Muscovite Rus' to the Horde
Starting from 1237-1238, the tragic theme of the Horde invasion came into Russian chronicles. Following the literary monuments, cycles of chants for Russian holidays about heroes, defenders and spiritual devotees of the Russian land begin to take shape.
The princely cults of this period - Mikhail Chernigovsky, Mikhail Tverskoy and Alexander Nevsky were formed at first as princely-family ones. In the most difficult time for Rus', the foundations of song cycles about the heroic pages of Russian history are being formed.
Prince Alexander Yaroslavich (1220-1263) - outstanding commander, politician, one of the most famous figures in the history of Ancient Rus'. The years of his reign coincided with the first decades of the Horde yoke.
The first brief edition of the service to Alexander Nevsky appeared in the middle of the 16th century, the second, lengthy edition appeared in the 80s of the 16th century, after which the service no longer changed in composition.
One of the dramatic episodes of the first years of the confrontation between Rus' and the Horde is the murder of Mikhail of Chernigov (1246). The feat of this prince was sung in a cycle of chants on September 20th. The service was very popular and appears on many lists.
All stichera to this prince contain elements of a narrative about his feat. They are based on the plot of the “Life” of Mikhail Chernigovsky. The melody of the stichera is unique, which is expressed in the bright dialogicity and storytelling, which comes from the living folk tradition of intonation and relaxed singing narration.
In 1304, Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver became the Great Prince of Vladimir. He was the first of the Russian princes to accept the title of Grand Duke of “All Rus'”. Mikhail Yaroslavich, knowing about his impending death, goes to the Horde to turn the wrath of the Horde khan away from his principality. In November 1318, during the struggle between the Tver and Moscow princes for the possession of the Vladimir Grand Duke's table in the Horde, he was killed.
The composition of the service dates back to the XIV-XV centuries. Many song cycles have reached us only in manuscripts no earlier than the second half of the 16th century.
Sergius of Radonezh is the central image of Russian holiness. He blessed Prince Dmitry for the Battle of Kulikovo, was the spiritual patron of Rus' during his lifetime and remains so throughout the entire time that has passed since his death.
It is believed that the first author of the service was Epiphanius the Wise. In the early stichera, only self-vocal chants were recorded - slavniks, two or three stichera. At the end of the 15th century, stichera to Sergius of Radonezh were firmly established in the sections of the service for September 25 and at the beginning of the 16th century were mandatory for any notated stichera.
The sequence of stichera in the service to Sergius on September 25 is typical for all song cycles of the annual circle: alternation of three or four similar stichera and one self-vocal one. Starting from the second half of the 16th century, some chants for July 5 are recorded in the stichiraria - from the service of the Finding of the Relics of Sergius of Radonezh. Then stichera are created specifically for this service. They glorify Sergius as the spiritual foundation of Rus'.
In the second half of the 17th century. Services to Sergius of Radonezh become perhaps the largest cycle of chants of all Russian services. Thus, the main body of hymns to this saint developed during the 15th-17th centuries.
The city is considered a milestone in the history of Rus'. But the chants that spread throughout the country after this date are not a victorious retrospective; the theme of invasion, both from the west and from the south and east, has always been relevant for the Russian state.
Therefore, Russian services were not only holidays: they were performed on days of great danger with prayers for intercession. The chants composed in the 16th century were memories of the exploits of Russian princes and holy ascetics, gathered soldiers for battle, and served as a source of new spirituality.
Conclusion
Old Russian singing art to the X-XVII centuries. has come a long way in its development. It was created as the art of masters of church singing. This is explained by the existence of extremely close ties between religion and art during this period. Religion brought with it culture, education and ensured state unity. The Church was a powerful cultural force through which the masses were educated.
Having come into contact with high Byzantine culture, Russian masters in their creativity created a new type of singing culture. By the 16th century, not only its general stylistic norms and genre varieties, but also the main repertoire of chants had already been fully defined.
A process of assimilation and assimilation took place. The sprouts of the old culture developed independently and creatively on the new soil. In the second half of the 17th century, Moscow composers, having come into contact with Polish-Ukrainian partes singing, created a new style of national choral culture - Russian partes singing.
The singing art of Ancient Rus' is an integral part of the national cultural heritage of our fatherland. His samples have high artistic value. But it remains an unexplored area even for people close to music. The reasons for this lie in the very specifics of this art form. Musical monuments of the past are mute to us if they do not sound.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the key to accurately reading and deciphering the oldest examples of Znamenny chant has not yet been found. The acquaintance is based almost exclusively on manuscripts of the 17th century, and not even of the entire century, but only of its second half.
By the 10th-17th centuries, the art of singing developed within the framework of a church organization. As a result of the relationship between the art of music and religion, clear requirements and rules were developed. The Church deliberately limited the complexity and increase in musical material, since the chants then became inaccessible to parishioners. She sought to dogmatize and canonize the existing forms of religious ritual music, to balance the relationship between religious and aesthetic content in it. The church saw a particular danger in the penetration of secular sound into cult music. The history of singing art is also about prohibitions, regulations and reforms aimed at protecting church music from elements of secularism. With all this effort, the people's musical wealth penetrated through the thickest barriers of church censorship.
The singing art of Ancient Rus' of the 10th-17th centuries represents the interrelation of musical, literary and religious traditions. Its peculiarity is that it is a holistic phenomenon, which includes not only musical principles of development, but also aesthetic and philosophical ones. Each of the chants is a kind of microcosm that reflects the patterns contained in the order.
The task of Old Russian chants in the service is to strengthen the emotional side in order to have an even greater impact on the listeners (parishioners). On the other hand, the meaningful use of different genres of chants and the corresponding types of expressiveness, their alternation in the service allowed the ancient Russian masters to create artistically integral works.
In addition, it should be noted that the development of ancient Russian singing art of the X-XVII centuries is directly related to the political events that took place in Kievan Rus, and then in the Muscovite state, since the church and ancient Russian church singing was an integral part of state education.
Literature
1. Brazhnikov M.V. Monuments of Znamenny chant. L., 1974.
2. Charter of 1558 on the Stoglavy Cathedral // Orthodox. social security, 1863, part I.
Tales of Ancient Rus': XI-XII centuries. L., 1983.
Seregina N.S. Hymns to Russian saints: based on materials from a handwritten song book of the 11th-19th centuries. "Monthly verse." St. Petersburg, 1994.
Council of 1649 on unanimity//CHOIDR, book. IV. M., 1894.
Allemanov D. Course on the history of Russian church singing. M., 1911.
Wagner G.K. Byzantium and Rus'. M., 1983.
Wagner G.K. The art of ancient Rus'. M., 1993.
Voronin N.N. An anonymous legend about Boris and Gleb, its time, style, author // TODRL. T.XIII. M.; L., 1957.
Source study of monuments of written culture. Sat. scientific works // Ed. Kruchinina A.N., Ramazanova N.V. - M., 1992.
Keldysh Yu.V. History of Russian music. T.I. M., 1983.
Likhachev D.S. Some questions of the ideology of feudal lords in the literature of the 11th-13th centuries. // TODRL. T.H. M.; L., 1954.
Metallov V.M. Russian semiography. M., 1912.
Nikolsky N.M. History of the Russian Church. M., 1930.
Rosenschild K. Musical art and religion; historical essay. M., 1964.
Romanov L. Musical art and Orthodoxy. L., 1989.
Manuscript monuments: publications and research. Issue 4. St. Petersburg, 1997.
Seregina N.S. From the history of singing cycles to Boris and Gleb // TODRL. T.XLIII. L., 1991.
Uspensky N.D. Old Russian singing art. M., 1971.
Maksimenko F. Church singing in Russia.//Church and public bulletin. St. Petersburg, 1881. No. 1. August 23.
Preobrazhensky A.V. On the similarity of Russian musical writing with Greek in singing manuscripts of the 11th-12th centuries. // RMG, 1909, No. 8.
Sorokin A. About Russian non-linear and in particular choral singing // Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy. Kyiv, 1876. T.I. January.
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« If a person is indifferent to historical monuments, then he is indifferent to his country.” .
Folk art ancient Rus'
SPIRITUAL
Musical culture of Ancient Rus', starting from the Kievan period and throughout the Middle Ages, had a dual character. Two cultures of different origins simultaneously coexisted in it: folk (folklore) and church (spiritual).
FOLKLORE
Music was an obligatory part of ritual holidays - Maslenitsa(farewell to winter and welcome to spring), Ivan Kupala(summer solstice day), etc. They usually took place with a large crowd of people and included games, dancing, wrestling, equestrian competitions, and performances by buffoons.
In Russians folk tales talked about the miraculous power of various musical instruments, which drive away evil forces, play and sing themselves, and make people dance without rest.
« The prophetic Bayan used to, if he started singing about someone, a thought, like a gray wolf, ran in the steppe, rose into the clouds like an eagle...” (“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”)
Accordion- Old Russian singer and guslar.
They set the tone at bazaars, at princely feasts, at games, playing the harp, bagpipes, whistles, and amused people at fairs.
A carefree tribe of cheerful vagabonds, born of the spirit of freedom, they did not need fame or benefits, the love of the people was enough.
The gusli was especially prominent as an instrument accompanying epic songs, legends, and glories. Heroic songs of glory were sung at meetings of princes upon returning from campaigns, upon ascending to the princely throne
Gudok is an ancient Russian folk bowed three-string musical instrument with a flat soundboard and back, without cutouts on the sides. Buffoons used it in combination with gusli. The buzzer was played like a cello.
Nozzles are longitudinal whistle flutes made of wood. The upper end of the barrel has a cut and a whistle device. Ancient nozzles had 3-4 holes on one side
Horn is an ancient Russian wooden shepherd's instrument, which traces its history back to military horns and trumpets that called warriors to battle.
Zhaleika is an ancient Russian folk wind wooden musical instrument - a wooden, reed or cattail tube with a bell made of horn or birch bark.
The flute is a simple wooden pipe. At one end there is a whistle device in the form of a “beak”, and in the middle of the front side there are carved different quantities playing holes.
The Jew's harp is one of the oldest musical instruments that has passed through centuries and has practically not changed its appearance. This is a self-sounding reed instrument. In ancient times, it was believed that playing the jew's harp clears the mind, strengthens a person's vitality, and harmonizes the functions of all organs; This is confirmed by modern scientists. The Jew's harp was very popular in Rus', and it was played here mainly by women
Rattles are a percussion instrument that replaces hand clapping. In the past, in addition to being a musical instrument, this instrument also performed a mystical function of protecting newlyweds from evil spirits.
Ratchets
Tambourine is a musical percussion instrument. They were widely used in military affairs and among buffoons
Domra is an ancient Russian plucked string instrument with an oval body, a long neck and three or four strings stretched across them.
MAIN GENRES OF MUSICAL FOLKLORE
Vocal (songs). Performing types: choral, competitive, storytelling
Instrumental (tutorials)