Old Believer Chant
When people speak of Old Believer chant, they often narrow its meaning by referring only to znamenny chant. In reality, Old Believer chant is a much broader concept. In an Old Believer church, one may hear simple recitative chant, chant “according to the tone” in keeping with the ancient principle of the oktoechos (eight-tone system), and of course znamenny chant itself, which also follows the oktoechos but expands, adorns, and even transcends it.
Znamenny chant is so called because its hymns were recorded using special signs: znamena or kryuki (hooks). For this reason, znamenny chant is sometimes also called “hook” notation chant. Both the chant itself—received at the Baptism of Rus’—and the signs used to denote it came to us as a legacy from the ancient Greek, Byzantine Church. Although both the chant and the znamena have undergone some changes in comparison with the Byzantine tradition, they have nonetheless been preserved in the living Old Believer tradition more faithfully than among the Greeks themselves.
Why is this the case? Because both in the years of spiritual decline in the 17th century, and during the subsequent persecutions, the Old Believers strove to preserve not only the letter, but the entire form—the full body—of the ancient church services.
The chief characteristic of znamenny chant (as, indeed, of all Old Believer chant) is its unison singing, or unified voice. All singers chant the same note at the same pitch simultaneously. This unity among the singers is transmitted to those in prayer; unity in chant becomes an image of the unity of mind among the faithful, calming the restless mind and helping one to feel oneself part of the one Body of Christ—the Church. Znamenny chant is free from emotional or theatrical performance styles; the singers’ voices must sound unaffected, natural, and unstrained. All of this fosters a contemplative, passionless, prayerful atmosphere.
And although the Church reformers of the 17th century did not officially abolish or forbid znamenny chant, it nevertheless no longer harmonized with the new spirit that had overtaken the Russian Church. Ancient Russian chant, with its restraint and solemnity, was aesthetically alien to the Western culture that had now openly entered Russia, weakened spiritually by the Church Schism. The reformed Church of Nikon and his followers began to rely on heterodox customs. In it, Italian partesny (polyphonic) singing and its associated secular musical notation came to decisively displace both znamenny chant and the znamena themselves.
In earlier times, only men sang in church. In our time, when male voices have become scarce, mixed choirs are often unavoidable. Even then, the pitch difference between male and female voices is usually no more than an octave. Where possible, such mixing of choirs is avoided: men sing on one kliros (choir stand), women on the other.
By the beginning of the 18th century, the dominant Church had largely transitioned to the five-line staff notation, which greatly facilitated the further influx of new melodies. In the end, very little of znamenny chant remained in the official Church. In its place appeared a large number of compositions imitating secular Western European music. The non-Old Believer part of the Russian people lost a vital part of their cultural heritage, and most Russians have never heard authentic znamenny chant.
Only in the 19th century did researchers and connoisseurs of znamenny chant begin to appear among the New Ritualists (Nikonian Orthodox), such as D. V. Razumovsky, S. V. Smolensky, and V. M. Metallov. Among the Old Believers, however, the ancient chant was carefully preserved throughout the centuries of persecution. And as soon as the opportunity arose, the keepers of the ancient tradition hastened to proclaim to the world the sacred art they had safeguarded. At the beginning of the last century, the chant books, which had previously been copied by hand, began to be printed.
Oktoechos (or osmoglasie) is a system for organizing Russian church chant—a unity of texts and melodies structured according to eight melodic patterns, or tones (glasy). Each of the seven days of the week (from Sunday through Saturday) in the liturgical cycle is primarily associated with texts and melodies of a particular tone. The first tone begins on Thomas Sunday (the first Sunday after Pascha); the second tone begins the following Sunday, and so on.
However, the tone of certain hymns sung in the service may differ from the current weekly tone. The melodies of the tones, though originating in the time of St. John of Damascus (8th century) and having undergone certain changes over their more-than-a-thousand-year history, have nevertheless preserved their spiritual essence and musical structure.
Znamenny chant primers began to be published, along with instructional manuals for its study. Special effort in this field was made by I. A. Fortov, M. D. Ozornov, and L. F. Kalashnikov, whose chant editions are now reprinted many times and are among the most widely used in the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church. A special contribution to familiarizing Russian society with the ancient chant tradition was made by the choir of the Old Believer Church of St. Nicholas at the Bogorodsk-Glukhov Manufactory. This choir became known as the Morozov Choir, named after Arseny Ivanovich Morozov, the benefactor of the church and owner of the manufactory. Under the direction of P. V. Tsvetkov, the choir gave a series of public performances that came as a surprise to the audiences of that time. These performances were accompanied by lectures from P. V. Tsvetkov on znamenny chant. The Morozov Choir’s singing was recorded on gramophone records.
The aftermath of the October Revolution of 1917 had a devastating impact on church life in general, and on the art of chant in particular. Yet even under the atheistic regime, Old Believer chant did not fall silent. Great credit for its preservation and popularization during those years belongs to Yakov Alexandrovich Bogatenko (1875–1941), director of the church choir of the Brotherhood of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, a chant instructor at the Moscow Old Believer Teachers’ Institute, and a well-known iconographer. In the post-war years, the choir of the Church of the Protection of the Most Holy God-Bearer in the village of Strelnikovo, Kostroma Province, gained special renown. It was founded by Bishop Geronty (Lakomkin; 1872–1951), who has since been glorified as a saint. The Strelnikovo Choir passed on a high standard of performance to the present generation.
Today is a time of revival for Old Believer chant. The hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church oversees the state of church singing in the parishes. Many Old Believer communities are blessed with outstanding singers. The choirs of the Nizhny Novgorod and Novosibirsk communities are particularly renowned. The Novosibirsk Choir continues the traditions of the Morozov Choir, giving concerts and bearing witness to the Orthodox chant tradition among non-Old Believers, not only in Russia but also abroad. In Moscow, spiritual hymn concerts are now regularly held on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women, and since 2005, the Sunday of All Saints has marked the celebration of the Days of Ancient Russian Orthodox Church Chant.
The study of znamenny chant is a required subject at the Spiritual School of the Old-Rite Metropolitanate of Moscow. Nevertheless, while znamenny chant is among the most characteristic liturgical traditions of the Old Believers, it is by no means the only form of sacred chant.
When speaking of znamenny chant, one cannot overlook the znamena or kryuki themselves—the signs used to record the melody. Their names are highly poetic: swift dove, little serpent, two in a boat, dark arrow, lightning arrow, and so on. Each syllable of the text corresponds to one or more znamena (hooks); each znamen indicates from one to nine sounds—their sequence, relative pitch, and duration. To the left of a znamen, red marks called pomety are placed, indicating the height of the highest note within that znamen. But it is not that simple. Depending on the tone (glas), certain znamena are sung differently; moreover, they frequently form fixed combinations (known as polevki), each with its own melodic form, which also varies depending on the tone. Some combinations of znamena—called fity, named after the znamen resembling the letter fita (ѳ)—are sung identically regardless of the tone, but they may unfold into several dozen distinct notes.
Certain prayers do not have a written znamenny notation and are sung according to melodies that have been orally passed down from generation to generation (po napevke—“by the melody”). These melodies may differ across Old Believer communities. Sometimes a napevka is used even for prayers that do have a znamenny notation. As a rule, singing a prayer by napevka takes significantly less time than singing it by the znamena. These napevki form a unique stratum of the Old Believer chant tradition.
Demestvenny chant can be heard in Old Believer churches much less frequently than znamenny. Everything mentioned above regarding the features of znamenny chant applies to demestvenny chant as well. However, it has a somewhat different rhythm and emotional tone—generally more intense and solemn. The same liturgical texts may be presented in either znamenny or demestvenny versions. The choice of which to use is made by the church rector or the ustavshchik (the person in charge of liturgical order).
Demestvenny chant has its own form of notation, although outwardly it closely resembles znamenny notation. But Old Believer chant is not limited to liturgical singing. Pious Orthodox Christians do not consider it proper to sing secular or worldly songs, the content of which is often far from edifying, and sometimes even openly blasphemous.
Yet life without song is alien to the Russian spirit. And so, from ancient times, pious spiritual songs arose within the people. At times, poems by secular poets were used. These would acquire a melody (often recorded in kryuki) and were gratefully received by Orthodox Christians. Known as dukhovnye stikhi (spiritual verses), they still live on among the Old Believers to this day. Some spiritual verses are very ancient; others have been composed by our contemporaries. It is rare for a festive meal to pass without the singing of spiritual verses. Old Believer choirs performing for the public often include them enthusiastically in their repertoire.
Source: Illustrated Encyclopedia of Old Belief