Now playing: Meet it is – 17th Century Valaam Chant

The Cycle of the Eight Tones

Performance Practice in the Eastern Orthodox Church

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

Brief History of Orthodoxy

• 988 – Baptism of Russia• Moscow becomes 5th Patriarchate in 16th century

• Orthodoxy is official religion of the Byzantine and Russian Empires

• There are now 15 autocephalous Orthodox Churches world-wide

• 2nd Largest Christian Denomination in the World

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

Services

• Orthodox Church is Liturgical

• Three types of services– Daily Services– Liturgies (Eucharist services)– Other offices

• Wedding, Baptism, Unction, Akathist, Molieben, etc.

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

Daily Services

• Nocturnes (Midnight Office)• Matins (Morning Service)• 1st Hour (6am)• 3rd Hour (9am)• 6th Hour (Noon)• 9th Hour (3pm)• Vespers (Evening Service)• Compline

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)

Types of Hymns

• Troparion

• Kontakion

• Sticheron

• Prokeimenon

• Irmos

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– Wednesday – The Cross and Christ’s Betrayal– Thursday – Apostles– Friday – Crucifixion– Saturday – Saints and Martyrs/Commemoration of the

Dead

The Octoechos

• Byzantine Chant– Each tone is a

different mode (scale)– Troparia & Stichera

tones are similar– In contemporary

Greek practice, there are no tones for prokeimena, as they are read

• Russian Chant– Now, several tones

are in the same mode– Troparia & Stichera

tones are different– There are several

melodies for prokeimena

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

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 in each service

• Hymns from other books, such as the Menaion, are also added into the daily services, depending on the time of year

• These hymns are also assigned a specific tone, but not necessarily the tone of the week

• Set hymns for each service, from the Horologion, can also be assigned a different tone

Daily Vespers: an outline

• Usual Beginning – set of prayers for opening most 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

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

Byzantine Chant

• Basis for all forms of Orthodox music• Stems from chant of the synagogue• Until 16th century, Byzantine Chant was

monophonic• The ison, or drone, was added in the mid-

sixteenth century• There are two ways to chant and two

centers for Byzantine Chant throughout history

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 manyof the hymns that have been passed down.

Mount Athos

Athonite Tradition

• There are Twenty monasteries on Mount Athos• Monastic life includes all daily services• Each monastery has it’s 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

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 singing antiphonally

Style 1

Monks of St. Anthony’s Monastery“Rich men have become poor”

Grave Tone (Tone 7)

Style 2Monks of Simonopetra Monastery

“Rich men have become poor”Grave Tone (Tone 7)

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

Two Samples

• Sticheron to St. Anthony at Lord, I have cried – Tone 1

• Troparion to St. Anthony – Plagal 1st Tone (Tone 8)

Russian Chant

• Inherited from Constantinople in 10th Century

• 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

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

Znameny Notation

• Similar to Byzantine notation

• Signs are mostly vertical, as opposed to Byzantine notation

• Square note notation was introduced as well, and manuscripts represent both styles

Znameny Samples

• Troparion of the Cross – Tone 1– 15th Century Znameny Chant

• Troparion of the Cross – Tone 1– 17th Century Znameny Chant

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)

Obikhod Chant

• Developed by Bakhmetev and L’vov– “court composers”– against “classical” composers writing church music in

Western style

• 4 part harmony• Sticheron tones in Obikhod chant are based on

Kievan chant melodies• Troparion tones are based on “Greek” Chant• Prokeimena tones are based on Znameny chant• Irmos Tones are combination of all three styles

Troparion – Obikhod Tone 1

Based on Greek chantBest known Russian melody

Used by Tchaikovsky for 1812 Overture

Two Listening Examples

• Kievan Chant – Tone 6– “Having Beheld the Resurrection of Christ”– St. Vladimir’s Seminary Male Chorus

• Obikhod Chant – Tone 6– “Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Savior”– St. Vladimir’s Seminary Clergy

Other Russian Traditions

• Many feasts for saints or events are written to special melodies, or podoben

• 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 Dmitri

Bortniansky takes over and adds Italian techniques to Russian traditions

• Becomes one of the most prolific composers of Russian church music

• Develops the Sacred Concerto – non-liturgical piece sung during clergy communion

Other Russian Traditions

• Composers of “art” music begin to write sacred music

• Imperial Chapel censors much of it• Settings of the Divine Liturgy and All-Night

Vigil start appearing from Tchaikovsky and others– Many of these are not used in Liturgical

worship– Condemned as “too Western”

“Golden Age” of Russian Choral Music

• From late 19th Century until 1917• Between 15-20 composers write settings

of the Divine Liturgy and All-Night Vigil• Pavel Chesnokov composes almost 200

pieces of Sacred music• Others are Kastalsky, Archangelsky,

Gretchaninoff, Rachmaninoff, Kalinnikov• Ends with Bolshevik Revolution

– Sacred music is practically banned

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

Listening Examples

• Paschal Canon – Ode 1– Byzantine Chant– Performed by Eikona

• Paschal Canon – Ode 1– Russian “Greek” Chant– Performed by St. Vladimir’s Male Chorus

Exit MusicPsalm 103

Russian “Greek” Chant

Arr. by Kedrov