Byzantine monodic singing from the Romanian space versus polyphonic religious singing: divergences and convergences

Abstract

Among the agents of the infiltration of polyphony in native religious singing are the reforming current, coming from the West through Transylvania, as well as the act of uniting with Rome a part of Transylvanian Romanians (1701). Catholic choral pieces are insinuated in Psalter manuscripts, including the curious phenomenon of the transposition of polyphonic religious singing into the Byzantine semiographic system. The two components — monodic and polyphonic — are also meet in Moldova. In 1782 during the abbotship of Paisie Velicikovski, a choir of Russian monks was established, who practiced harmonic singing (along with native monks who, traditionally, sang monodically) at Neamts Monastery. In the first half of the 19th century, the contacts of psalter music with polyphonic religious music intensified. The presence of choral singing was signaled in several cultural centers in the researched area (Arad, Bucharest, Iasi). As time goes on, psalter singing is competing more and more dangerously with harmonic singing, things being pushed to a fierce confrontation between the two currents. The saving solution for keeping the balance between continuity and renewal is seen by the bishop Melchizedek of Roman.