The Failures of of a Twenty-Second-Century Historical Musicologist

My paper explores the hypothetical work of a musicologist of the future interested in church music sung in Bucharest in 2019. What evidence would such an musicologist find in manuscripts and printed books in order to reconstruct the repertoire chanted? What would he think about the repertories in use? What would he be likely to miss

The Modes of the Orthodox Church Chant in South Transylvania

The Orthodox church chant from South Transylvania is a variant of the Byzantine chant. It was transmitted almost exclusively orally until 1890, when priest Dimitrie Cunțan published a volume in Western notation containing the most used pieces. The volume was used as a handbook for the cantors ever since, but oral tradition has continued to play a very important role even today.In this paper, I present the main issues to be investigated in order to achieve a theory of modes for the South Transylvania chant, pointing to a few particular aspects of this music. Research has to take into account both written sources and audio recordings. For the latter, one can use the database including recordings from about 100 cantors (age 29 to 87) made in 2002–2005 by Rev. Vasile Grăjdian and his assistants.The theory of modes should not confine only to the description of scales, dominant degrees, cadences, unstable degrees etc. It would be useful for such a theory to also list the formulas of every mode and reveal the rules of concatenating the formulas in a performance, and to describe the significant variations of tempo that are embedded in these formulas and modes as well

Rumunsko i grčko-tursko-persijsko-arapsko nasleđe - osobenosti rumunskog crkvenog pojanja

Romanian cantors, clergymen and musicologists debated the problem of a national church chant from the late 19th century onwards. Amongst other things, they tried to define the specific traits of Romanian chant, to place these traits in opposition with Turkish and Oriental ones, and to show that traits of Romanian chant bore witness to a European and not an Oriental identity. This paper discusses various views on the traits of Romanian chant and the composing techniques of the 'Romanianization' of Greek pieces, and points to the connections between these traits and national myths and symbols shared by Romanians.U radu su predstavljena najuticajnija mišljenja o karakterističnim crtama rumunskog pravoslavnog pojanja i ukazano je na pravac i uslove u kojima su se ona menjala tokom XIX i XX veka. Analizirani su napisi osmorice pojaca, klirika i muzikologa, po dvojica za svaku polovinu pomenutih stoleća. Istraživanje je ograničeno na teritoriju Vlaške i Moldavije, a po strani je ostala crkvena muzika Transilvanije i Banata koja ima različitu istoriju, zbog čega je tek sporadično u radu pominjana. Ideja o specifičnom karakteru rumunskog pojanja pojavila se pod uticajem nacionalne ideologije tokom druge polovine XIX veka. Nacionalne osobine opisane su u reinterpretacijama stavova pojaca s početka stoleća, a doživele su promene shodno političkom i ideološkom kontekstu epohe. Neke od osobenih odlika pripisanih rumunskoj pojačkoj tradiciji pripadaju polju estetike (jednostavnost, ujednačenost, pobožnost itd.). Druge, pak, isključivo muzičke prirode, označene su kao specifično rumunske, budući da su prisutne u rumunskom folkloru, pre svega u njegovom lestvičnom ustrojstvu i neobičnim melodijskim intervalima. Međutim, među nacionalnim elementima u vezi sa kojima se najviše diskutovalo nije bilo onih koji su važili za 'orijentalne': tzv. konstantinopoljski stil koji je izjednačavan sa turskim, azijatske i kasnije, grčko turske svetovne melodije, persijski ritam i, u kasnim decenijama XX veka, ornamenti i lestvice čije je poreklo, kako se verovalo, bilo grčko-tursko-persijsko-arapsko. Brojni autori napisa smatrali su da eliminisanje orijentalnih muzičkih elemenata u prilagođavanju grčkih napeva rumunskom jeziku vodi ka oblikovanju nacionalnog pojačkog stila. Prema stepenu izostanka ovih elemenata procenjivali su postojeće adaptacije napeva. Hijerarhija pojaca izmenila se nakon Prvog svetskog rata. U XIX stoleću, jeromonah Makarije je cenjen kao onaj koji je rumunsko pojanje 'očistio' od turskih elemenata, dok je Anton Pan kritikovan zbog očuvanja svetovnih melodija. U narednom veku je on, međutim, cenjen upravo zbog eliminisanja svetovnog zvuka, dok se za Makarija govorilo da je u svojim adaptacijama sledio i sačuvao grčke pojačke karakteristike. Ovakve i slične procene muzikologa zasnivale su se prevashodno na postojećim diskursima o datoj temi, a ne na analizama samih adaptiranih napeva

Η δημιουργία εθνικής ρουμανικής εκκλησιαστικής μουσικής (1821-1914)

I examined in this thesis the matter of the national church music in Romania, in the prewar period. The first part of my research (Chapter 3) focused on the way in which the chanters, bishops, historians or musicologists regarded the Romanian church music of the 19th century (more precisely until the First World War). I showed that the image of this music changed in time—since the emergence of the Romanian modern state until today—not so much due to the discovery of new scientific evidence, as to the ideological and political changes. In the next stage (Chapter 4) I probed the validity of the contemporary musicologists’ statements—which are also supported by statements of the chanters before the Second World War—regarding the Romanian chant characteristics. The compared analysis of the Romanian chants with their Greek equivalents has shown that many of these assertions are false. I did not find in the creations and adaptations of the Romanian chanters any reduction of chromatic passages, any consistent abridgement of the chants or a preference for the syllabic style. I showed then that pieces considered as examples for their national spirit prove devoid of the characters declared as specifically Romanian (conciseness, lack of melismas etc.) or reveal a foreign origin—Greek (e.g. the Palm Sunday Canon) or Western (tonal choral compositions). I tried, in Chapter 5, to offer an alternative to this theory, taking into account the transformations that took place in the Romanian society and in its music in the 19th century (presented in Chapters 1 and 2) and the current theories regarding the nation (outlined in the Introduction). I presented in detail the mechanisms for adapting the stichera in the first mode from three anastasimataria adapted by the most important Romanian chanters before 1860. The research explained the differences between the Greek and the Romanian versions and confirmed the statements of the chanters in this time period according to whom there was no essential difference between the Romanians’ chant and that in Greek. National church music is thus not a creation of the chanters from the first half of the 19th century, but rather, it was constructed together with the Romanian nation, starting with the second half of the same century. The national chant was first imagined as an element of national identity, with specific features, distinct from those of the other nations, taking and reinterpreting myths present in the writings of chanters before 1860. Then, action was taken so that a number of pieces considered congruent with this image should be transposed in a “civilised” version in parts, and disseminated, in both forms, all over the country.H κοινή γνώμη ιστορία της Ρουμάνικης εκκλησιαστικής μουσικής βασίζεται σε μια Ρομαντική άποψη περί του έθνους. Σύμφωνα με αυτή, μια καλλιτεχνική δημιουργία (όπως ένα εκκλησιαστικό μουσικό κομμάτι) εκφράζει κυρίως την ψυχή του έθνους του καλλιτέχνη. Η δική μου άποψη λαμβάνει υπόψη τις σύγχρονες θεωρίες για το έθνος και τον εθνικισμό. Αυτή η άποψη μου επέτρεψε να περιγράψω πιο σωστά την ιστορία της ρουμάνικης εκκλησιαστικής μουσικής το 19ο αιώνα, να εμφανίσω πιο λεπτομερώς την εικόνα της ρουμάνικης εκκλησιαστικής μουσικής των διαφόρων ψαλτών και μουσικολόγων και να σκεφτώ ποια είναι η έννοια της εθνικής εκκλησιαστικής μουσικής. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, εφάρμοσα τις σύγχρονες θεωρίες περί έθνους: - το γεγονός ότι στα Δoυvάβια Πριγκιπάτα, πριν τα μέσα του 19ου αιώνα, η εθνική ταυτότητα ήταν πιο ασθενής από την ορθόδοξη εξηγεί γιατί οι Ρουμάνοι ψάλτες εκτίμησαν τόσο τα ελληνικά μέλη και δεν ήθελαν να τα αλλάξουν, όταν τους είχαν βάλει ρουμάνικα κείμενα. - τα κράτη-έθνη φροντίζουν να πλάθουν κάποια υποχρεωτικά στοιχεία ταυτότητας, όπως γλώσσα, πολιτιστικά μνημεία, φαγητά, κ.λ.π., συμπεριλαμβανομένου την εκκλησιαστική μουσική. Στην διατριβή μου, έχω δείξει τις ενέργειες του κράτους για την διάδοση μέσω της εκπαίδευσης ενός ρεπερτορίου που το έκρινε ως εθνικό. - οι περισσότερες θεωρίες διακρίνουν μεταξύ του σύγχρονου έθνους και άλλων εθνικών ομάδων. Η έρευνά μου δείχνει ότι το ενδιαφέρον για μια εθνική ρουμάνικη εκκλησιαστική μουσική –διαφορετική από την βυζαντινή– εμφανίσθηκε ταυτόχρονα με το εθνικό κράτος κι όχι νωρίτερα. Σύμφωνα με την άποψή μου, η εθνική ρουμάνικη εκκλησιαστική μουσική είναι, λοιπόν, ή μουσική που συνέλαβαν οι Ρουμάνοι ως την μουσική του δικού τους έθνους, με τα χαρακτηριστικά που έχω περιγράψει στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο της διατριβής (χαρακτηριστικά που άλλαξαν με το καιρό, σύμφωνα με τις ιδεολογικές και πολιτικές μεταμορφώσεις). Από μία άλλη οπτική γωνία, η εθνική ρουμάνικη εκκλησιαστική μουσική θεωρείται ως η μουσική η οποία δημιουργήθηκε σύμφωνα με τις εθνικιστικές ιδέες και με την υποστήριξη του κράτους-έθνους. Δευτερεύοντα αποτελέσματα είναι τα εξής: - εξήγησα τον μηχανισμό προσαρμογής των στιχηρών αναστασίμων και γιατί το μεταφρασμένο στιχηρόν διαφέρει από το πρωτότυπο, αν και ο μεταφραστής θέλει να παραμείνει κοντά σ’ αυτό. - έδειξα ότι η συντομία, ο διατονισμός, και τα λεγόμενα ειδικά ρουμάνικα διαστήματα δεν είναι καθόλου χαρακτηριστικά της ρουμάνικης εκκλησιαστικής μουσικής. - έδειξα ότι το μέλος του κανόνα των Βαΐων του Filothei δεν είναι ρουμάνικο αλλά έχει ελληνικές

Schiţă a unei metode de transcriere a cântarilor în stilul nou stihiraric

The paper outlines a method of reconstructing chants in Byzantine notation from late-18th to early19th centuries. The method is based on the comparison of pieces recorded both in Middle Byzantine and Chrysanthine notations. It consists in selecting a group of pieces with a high grade of similarity (same mode, same style, same composer etc.); segmenting every piece in syntactical units; creating an Old notation-New notation “dictionary” of formulas; determining rules of transcription for non-formulaic units; and checking the validity of the results in groups formed by gradually enlarging the initial group. This method is applied in the paper for the particular case of 24 stichera from the anastasimatarion of Petros Lampadarios Peloponnisios. The rules of transcription are verified by transcribing a few Romanian stichera in Middle-Byzantine notation and by comparing them with similar stichera in Chrysanthine notation