Cyclical Composition’s Dramaturgical Principles of the Easter Canon (on the Irmologion Material of the 70s – 80s of the XVII Century)

Abstract

Over the centuries, church liturgical practice has formulated perfect musical forms, the structure of which is built on internal genres, united by the common idea of all parts. The classification of their musical dramaturgy is determined by the musical-philological component that builds the liturgical and artistic integrity of the cyclic form of the work. This form is represented by the Easter canon, which holds a special place among all works of Byzantine hymnography.The purpose of the research is to consider the compositional structure of the Easter canon genre in the context of its theological and musical-poetic content.The methodology of the research is based on a comprehensive music-analytical, theoretical and historical analysis.The scientific novelty of the research is a comprehensive study of the canon genre from the point of view of establishing relationships at the level of melos, poetics and liturgical content.Conclusions. The dramaturgy of the Easter canon is based on the harmonization of theological accents with the means of poetic expression and musical instruments, in particular, intonation, metro-rhythmic, leitmotifs and the like. In this way, the integrity of all 9 canon songs is achieved throughout the cyclical form. The general construction of the Easter canon is inspired by the laws of rhetorical art, as well as by the defining principles of Christian hymnographers whose work was based on a combination of Old Testament and New Testament images. Thus, the musical and poetic logic of the unfolding of the general dramaturgy of the canon genre reveals an alignment of the aesthetic component with the dominant accents of the theological idea of the Easter holiday.