The Octomodal Рymn to the Dormition of the Mother of God “Bogonachalnym Manoveniem” in Neumatic Irmologions

Main Article Content

Nina B. Zakhar’ina

Abstract

The octomodal sticheron in honour to the Dormition of the Mother of God “At the Divine Behest” (“Bogonachalnym manoveniem”) is one of the most stable hymns in the Oriental tradition of Christianity. It was created in Byzantine and then was adopted by Slavs. The Greek, Bulgarian, Old Russian, Lithuanian versions of the sticheron are well known in scientific literature. Comparing various versions is rather difficult because of different musical writing ways. This article is devoted to copies of the hymn which are contained in early examples of Irmologion (the chant book existed in Grand Duchy of Lithuania). These copies are written with znamenny notation.


Being well known in science these sources have never been compared with neumatic manuscripts of Old Russian tradition. The purpose of this study is to find out the genesis of Lituanian versions of the hymn and interconnection of two chant traditions. It was used the method of musical textology, Lithuanian copies of the sticheron were compared with Old Russian ones of the same period, the 2nd half of the 16th century and copies from Irmologions of the late 16th– early 17th centuries written with staff notation. The comparison shows that Old Russian and Lituanian versions of the hymn have the common source preserved in Old Russian chant books of the late15th – early 16th centuries. Later, the two traditions of chant gradually began being different, and by the last third of the 17th century, in the already well-read Old Russian notation only traces of their former similarity can be observed.


Keywords: octomodal hymn, the Dormition of the Mother of God, Irmologion.

Article Details

How to Cite
Zakhar’ina Н. Б. (2022). The Octomodal Рymn to the Dormition of the Mother of God “Bogonachalnym Manoveniem” in Neumatic Irmologions. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 48(3), 90–101. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/1382
Section
Sacred Music
Author Biography

Nina B. Zakhar’ina, St. Petersburg State N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, St. Petersburg

DrSci (Arts), Associate Professor at the Old Russian Singing Art Department