FEATURES OF THE PRE-RENAISSANCE IN THE CHURCH SINGING ART OF OLD RUSSIA OF THE 14TH–16TH CENTURIES

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Category: Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature: Issue 23
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Abstract:

The article examines for the first time the period of the late 14th — 16th centuries using the material of church singing art, as a transition period from the early Russian Middle Ages to the New Age. In related fields of knowledge — literary criticism, art criticism and cultural studies — it is associated with the problem of the Pre-Renaissance. The period of rise of national culture after the Battle of Kulikovo is similar to the Paleologian Renaissance. In church singing, their similarity is revealed, in particular, in the tendency of melodization. In Russian chants, in accordance with the new texts according to the Jerusalem Charter, singers achieve an organic fusion of text and melody. During the period of the “second South Slavic influence” in Rus’, liturgical songbooks appeared in the Bulgarian edition of canonical texts. However, in the field of singing there is no need to talk about the influence of the southern Slavs: the rapid development of musical writing in our Fatherland in comparison with Bulgaria and Serbia proves this. The style of “weaving words” in singing was indirectly reflected in the scale of the compositions and the renewal of the musical language. The mystical philosophy of hesychasm, dating back to the monastic ascetic practice of Palestine, affected the internal concentration and fullness of chanted prayer. The appeal to “one’s own Antiquity,” characteristic of the European Renaissance, manifested itself in the clear continuity of the traditions of pre-Mongol Rus’. The style of the “second monumentalism” is obvious in the voluminous Stichirarion of the menaion “Slave’s Eye” and the new lengthy chants — putevoy, demestvenny and bolshoy. Thus repeating some European features, the Russian Pre- Renaissance created a solid spiritual foundation for the further development of Russian art, which even during its “golden age” was based on this foundation, distinguished precisely by its deep spiritual essence. 
Keywords: Russian Pre-Renaissance, melodization of church singing, harmony of text and melody, “second South Slavic influence,” hesychasm, archaization, folklore elements.
Author: Galina A. Pozhidaeva
Information about the author:

Galina A. Pozhidaeva, DSc in Arts, Professor, Higher Theatre School (Institute) named after M.S. SHchepkin at the State Academic Maly Theatre of Russia, Neglinnaya St., 6/2, bld. 1–2, 109012 Moscow, Russia. 

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0572-4887 

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For citation:

Pozhidaeva, G.A. “Features of the Pre-Renaissance in the Church Singing Art of Old Russia of the 14th–16th Centuries.” Germenevtika drevnerusskoi literatury [Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature]. Issue 23. Ed.-in-chief O.A. Tufanova. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2024, pp. 569–598. (In Russian) https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2024-23-569-598 

 
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/HXMYPR
UDC: 783
Publication Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2024-23-569-598
Received: 29.01.2024
Approved after reviewing: 20.04.2024
Date of publication: 17.09.2024

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