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Now playing: Meet it is 17th Century Valaam Chant
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The Cycle of theEight Tones
Performance Practice in the Eastern
Orthodox Church
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Brief History of Orthodoxy
Founded at Pentecost (Acts Ch. 2)
Church of the Seven Ecumenical Councils
1st in Nicea (325 AD) Nicene Creed
7th in Nicea (787 AD) Confirmation of Icons
Originally governed by five patriarchs
Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch,
Alexandria 1054 marks the Great Schism Rome
separates from Eastern Church
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Brief History of Orthodoxy
988 Baptism of Russia
Moscow becomes 5th Patriarchate in 16th century
Orthodoxy is official religion of the Byzantine andRussian Empires
There are now 15 autocephalous Orthodox Churches
world-wide 2nd Largest Christian Denomination in the World
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Role of Music
Singing is an integral part of every service
Every part of the service is chanted or
sung, with the exception of the sermon
When texts are read, they are chanted
All music is a cappella
Text is most important aspect of music All participate in singing
Clergy chanter choir congregation
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Services
Orthodox Church is Liturgical
Three types of services
Daily Services Liturgies (Eucharist services)
Other offices
Wedding, Baptism, Unction, Akathist, Molieben, etc.
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Liturgies
Divine Liturgy of St. James (c. 60 AD)
Divine Liturgy of St. Basil (4th century)
Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom Typica (read in place of liturgy)
Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts By St. Gregory Dialogus
Used only during Great Lent
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Daily Services
Nocturnes (Midnight Office)
Matins (Morning Service)
1st Hour (6am)
3rd Hour (9am)
6th Hour (Noon)
9th Hour (3pm)
Vespers (Evening Service)
Compline
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Cycle of Services
Books that prescribe hymns
Horologion (Book of the Hours)
Octoechos (Book of Eight Tones)
Menaion (Daily services)
Triodion (Lenten services)
Pentecostarion (Easter and Pentecost)
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Types of Hymns
Troparion
Kontakion
Sticheron Prokeimenon
Irmos
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The Octoechos
Book of the Eight Tones
Contains Hymns for each day of the week
Sunday Resurrection
Monday Angels
Tuesday John the Baptist and other Prophets
WednesdayThe Cross and Christs Betrayal
Thursday Apostles
Friday Crucifixion
Saturday Saints and Martyrs/Commemoration of the
Dead
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The Octoechos
Byzantine Chant
Each tone is a
different mode (scale)
Troparia & Sticheratones are similar
In contemporary
Greek practice, there
are no tones forprokeimena, as they
are read
Russian Chant
Now, several tones
are in the same mode
Troparia & Sticheratones are different
There are several
melodies for
prokeimena
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Octoechos
Byzantine Chant
There is only one set
of Tones in all
Byzantine traditions Tones 1-4 are related
to tones 5-8
Tone 5 = Plagal 1st
Tone 6 = Plagal 2nd
Tone 7 = Grave Tone
Tone 8 = Plagal 4th
Russian Chant
There are several sets
of Tones from Russia;
Kievan, Znameny, etc. There is no correlation
between the eight
tones
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How does the Octoechos Work?
The Eight Tones rotate on an eight week cycle,beginning with the 2nd Sunday of Pentecost
The Tone of the Week is used for all daily hymns ineach service
Hymns from other books, such as the Menaion, are alsoadded into the daily services, depending on the time ofyear
These hymns are also assigned a specific tone, but notnecessarily the tone of the week
Set hymns for each service, from the Horologion, canalso be assigned a different tone
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Daily Vespers: an outline
Usual Beginning set of prayers for openingmost services
Psalm 103 Read by chanter
Great Litany Priest/Deacon & Choir Kathisma Reading from Psalter
Little Litany Priest/Deacon & Choir
Lord, I have cried Psalms 140, 141, 129, 116;
sung in tone of the week Contains hymns from the octoechos and possibly the
Menaion or other book, depending on the time of year
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Daily Vespers (cont.)
Gladsome Light Choir
Prokeimenon Priest/Deacon & Choir
Prayer read by chanter
Litany of Supplication Priest/Deacon & Choir Aposticha Sung in tone of the week
Prayer of St. Simeon read or sung in Tone 6
Trisagion prayers read by chanter
Troparia of the day Sung in different tones Augmented Litany Priest/Deacon & Choir
Dismissal Priest & Choir
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Byzantine Chant
Basis for all forms of Orthodox music
Stems from chant of the synagogue
Until 16th century, Byzantine Chant wasmonophonic
The ison, or drone, was added in the mid-sixteenth century
There are two ways to chant and twocenters for Byzantine Chant throughouthistory
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Constantinople
Seat of Orthodoxy during Byzantine Empire
There was a distinct Grand Cathedral style of worship
Chant was performed by professional chanters that also composed many
of the hymns that have been passed down.
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Mount Athos
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Athonite Tradition
There are Twenty monasteries on Mount Athos
Monastic life includes all daily services
Each monastery has its own style of chanting
Monastic style of worship was different from the
Constantinopolitan worship
Today, the Greek Church still follows
Constantinopolitan practice to some degree,while the Russian Church has mostly adopted
the Athonite style of worship
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Two styles of Byzantine Chant
1) One chanter sings the melody, while
the others all chant the ison
2) Half of the chanters sing the melody,
and the others all chant the ison
Style 1 allows for more ornamentation
Both styles involve two choirs singingantiphonally
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Style 1
Monks of St. Anthonys Monastery
Rich men have become poor
Grave Tone (Tone 7)
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Style 2
Monks of Simonopetra Monastery
Rich men have become poor
Grave Tone (Tone 7)
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Byzantine Notation
Uses signs to indicate intervals, dynamics,
accents, pace, ornamentation, voice inflections
Cannot be accurately transferred to Western
notation At first, symbols were just added to texts to show
the tones, and chanters would have them
memorized
To conserve lost melodies, Byzantine notation
was created to be as specific as possible
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Two Samples
Sticheron to St. Anthony at Lord, I have
cried Tone 1
Troparion to St. Anthony Plagal 1st Tone
(Tone 8)
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Russian Chant
Inherited from Constantinople in 10thCentury
Was mostly monophonic until 17th Century
Early chant Znameny (neumes or signs)
Simple melodies
Evolved in 17th Century to include parts Demestveny Chant used for feasts
More complicated melodies
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Russian Chant
Reforms by Patriarch Nikon in 17th
Century caused split in the church
Western harmony was introduced
Old Belivers split off and use only single part
Znameny melodies
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Znameny Notation
Similar to Byzantine notation
Signs are mostly vertical, as opposed toByzantine notation
Square note notation was introduced aswell, and manuscripts represent both
styles
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Znameny Samples
Troparion of the Cross Tone 1
15th Century Znameny Chant
Troparion of the Cross Tone 1
17th Century Znameny Chant
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Other forms of Russian Chant
Monastic communities in Russia compose
their own chant melodies
Valaam Chant island monastery on Lake
Ladoga
Trinity-Sergius Chant Patriarchal Monastery
near Moscow
Kievan Chant Monastery of the Kiev Caves From Kievan Chant comes Obikhod (Common)
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Obikhod Chant
Developed by Bakhmetev and Lvov court composers
against classical composers writing church music inWestern style
4 part harmony
Sticheron tones in Obikhod chant are based onKievan chant melodies
Troparion tones are based on Greek Chant Prokeimena tones are based on Znameny chant
Irmos Tones are combination of all three styles
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Troparion Obikhod Tone 1
Based on Greek chant
Best known Russian melody
Used by Tchaikovsky for 1812 Overture
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Two Listening Examples
Kievan Chant Tone 6
Having Beheld the Resurrection of Christ
St. Vladimirs Seminary Male Chorus
Obikhod Chant Tone 6
Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Savior
St. Vladimirs Seminary Clergy
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Other Russian Traditions
Many feasts for saints or events are written to specialmelodies, orpodoben
Peter the Great and the Westernization of Russia
Brought in Italian architects and musicians Italian opera was performed in the Russian court
Giuseppe Sarti become the official court music director DmitriBortniansky takes over and adds Italian techniques to Russiantraditions
Becomes one of the most prolific composers of Russian churchmusic
Develops the Sacred Concerto non-liturgical piece sung duringclergy communion
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Other Russian Traditions
Composers of art music begin to writesacred music
Imperial Chapel censors much of it
Settings of the Divine Liturgy and All-NightVigil start appearing from Tchaikovsky andothers
Many of these are not used in Liturgicalworship
Condemned as too Western
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Golden Age of
Russian Choral Music
From late 19th Century until 1917
Between 15-20 composers write settingsof the Divine Liturgy and All-Night Vigil
Pavel Chesnokov composes almost 200pieces of Sacred music
Others are Kastalsky, Archangelsky,
Gretchaninoff, Rachmaninoff, Kalinnikov Ends with Bolshevik Revolution
Sacred music is practically banned
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In America
Due to multiple ethnic groups in the U.S.,
Orthodox churches now combine musical
aspects of both traditions into their
services
A typical service might feature hymns in
Byzantine, Kievan, Obikhod, Znameny,and other chant systems
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Listening Examples
Paschal Canon Ode 1
Byzantine Chant
Performed by Eikona
Paschal Canon Ode 1
Russian Greek Chant
Performed by St. Vladimirs Male Chorus
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Exit Music
Psalm 103Russian Greek Chant
Arr. by Kedrov
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