The Sung Performance of Psalms with Refrains and the Stichera Series of the All-Night Vigil in Pre-Reform Russian Polyphonic Practice

Authors

• Elena Chernova University of Heidelberg, Germany https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1816-2194

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.57050/jisocm.161320

Keywords:

Early Russian Polyphony, Psalm with Refrain, Stichera, Pre-reform Russian singing practice, Lord I have cried, Psalms of Praise

Abstract

The neumatic manuscripts containing early Russian polyphony associated with the office of the All-Night Vigil prior to the mid-seventeenth century reforms suggest that most of the elements constituting this office that by the end of the century were intended only for reading had previously been sung. This applies not only to the unchanging hymns of the All-Night Vigil, most of which were performed polyphonically, but also to the extensive series of changeable elements of the office—entirely sung kathismata, as well as sequences of psalms and stichera. In this article we will try to trace how the pre-reform practice of singing psalm series with integrated stichera was reflected in early Russian neumatic polyphony.