Hypostases of the adaptation of psalter Melos to the prosody and topic of the Romanian language in the first half of the 19th century

Abstract

If the 18th century initiated - through Psaltichia Rumănească by Filotei sin Agăi Jipei - the process of autochthonization of psalter singing in the Romanian area, and then it ensured its upward course, the first half of the 19th century marks the zenith of the approach, bringing in the foreground personalities such as Macarie Hieromonk and Anton Pann. Both the Macarian concept of Romanization of sacred singing, as well as Anton Pann’s achievements in this domain, have a certain artistic and instructive value and, in their time, were affirmed as attitudes and models to follow. At the same time, the current Byzantinistics insists on the limited character of these contributions, showing that the two precursors only referred to Constantinopolitan singing after 1814 and did not capitalize on the old autochthonous liturgical music, did not take into account the psalter singing from villages, close to the folkloric matrix. They aimed especially at the text of the pew singing and not at the musical background, which changes only to a small extent.