2. Sticheraric Genre
REPERTOIRES (Scores) – SOURCES (printed & manuscript)
The Sticheraric Genre represents a significant portion of
the notated chant repertoir, and is used primarily at Vespers and Matins.
There are separate melodic formulas for each of the 8 Tones (or Modes).
This genre can be broken down into the following subdivisions:
a) The melodies for "Lord, I have cried"
b) The Refrains between the stichera
c) Idiomela Stichera: Full Melodies
d) Idiomela Stichera: Formula Melodies (commonly called "Samoglasen")
e) Automela/Samopodobny and Prosomia/Podobny melodies for Stichera
The 3 Classes
of Melodic Forms for Stichera: Idiomela (Samoglasny) - Automela (Samopodobny) - Prosomoia (Podobny)
| a) The Melodies for "Lord, I have cried" |
Znamenny Chant
(Old Rite) and
Russian New Rite Chant Systems
These consist of pairs of melodic formulas for each of the 8 Tones:
a melody for reciting psalm verses, and a melody for the refrains. Even
though the Old and New Rites use the same pairs of melodic formulas
for the verses and refrains, they have different liturgical practices
for singing the Evening Psalms:
i) According to the pre-Nikonian Typicon (the "Oko tserkovnoe"
or "The Eye of the Church") and the corresponding chant books,
the Evening Psalms are sung in three stases, corresponding to the model
of the more ancient Cathedral Rite. The appointed verses of Psalm 140
have the refrain "Hearken unto us, O Lord" (Услыши ны Господи),
Psalm 141 has the refrain "I have cried unto Thee: save me"
(Воззвах Тебе спаси мя), and Psalms 129 and 116 have the refrain "O
Christ Saviour, have mercy on us" (Христе Спасе помилуй нас). The
entire set of psalms is read by the Psalmist with refrains chanted antiphonally
by the choirs, then the chanters sing the final ten (or 8 or 6) verses
again as refrains for the appointed stichera. (The Evening Psalms are
not appointed to be sung at Small Vespers, but they are merely read
up to the last four verses. They are always sung at Great Vespers and
on all days when there is an entrance at Vespers. The same rules apply
to the hymn "O gentle light", which functions as an entrance
hymn.)
ii) According to the reformed (post-Nikonian or "New Rite")
tradition, the liturgical manner of chanting these Evening Psalms is much
simpler: A canonarch sings the first verse, together with the single refrain
"Hearken unto me, O Lord" (Услыши мя Господи). Then the right
choir sings the second verse with the refrain, and the left choir sings
the third verse with the refrain. The remaining verses of the psalms are
simply read by a reader, up to the point where one begins to chant the
appointed stichera.
Byzantine Chant
(etc.)
(information coming)
| b) The Refrains between the stichera |
These brief musical phrases help to separate and introduce
the appointed stichera. For short phrases, the reader intones the phrase
and the chanters repeat it, but for longer phrases which can be divided
into two parts (such as "Glory..., both now..."), the reader
intones the first half and the chanters sing the remaining half. It is
customary for the reader or canonarch to announce the Tone (and Podoben),
especially when the Tone changes from the previous hymn.
| c) Idiomela Stichera: Full Melodies |
Znamenny Chant
(Old Rite) and
Russian New Rite Chant Systems
Great Znamenny Chant. These are the stichera in the chant books which have musical notation,
with fairly complex melodies in the Great Znamenny Chant. These "idio-mela" (unique melodies) are designed for specific liturgical texts and will
not be shared with other hymns. In particular, the Idiomela Stichera
are found in the Octoechos chant book (for the Resurrectional services
in the 8 Tones), in the Prazdniki (the Great Feasts), Trezvon (middle
rank feasts) and Triod (the services of Great Lent, Holy Week, Pascha
and the Pentecostarion period). These stichera have been preserved in
a slightly more developed form from the original Byzantine neumatic
tradition that was brought into Russia shortly after its conversion.
(Although technically "Idiomelon" translates into Slavonic
as "Samoglasen", the Russians have misunderstood the fundamental
concept and have mistakenly transferred this term to the Small Znamenny
Chant melodies.)
During the great flourishing of the singing schools
in Novgorod, Pskov and Moscow during the 16th century, several hymns
from the Ordinary (Obikhod), used for the vigil service and for great
feasts, were set to melodies in the sticheraric genre (such as "O
gentle light..." in Tone 6). The sticheraric melodies are not
generally used in the Divine Liturgy, except for the singing of the
troparia at the Beatutudes, and (in some communities) for the daily
Troparia and Kontakia.
The Great Znamenny Chant stichera are noted for their complexity
and frequent use of multi-syllabic and melismatic passages (frequently
highlighting significant theological points), as well as phrase
ornamentations and a stately relaxed tempo.
In the post-Nikonian era, with the replacement of Znamenny Chant with other formula-based chanting systems (see c-ii below), Idiomela Stichera (in their true sense of each sticheron having its own unique melody) generally went out use in the modern Russian Church, and have preserved only by the Old Ritualists.
Byzantine Chant
(etc.)
(information coming)
| d) Idiomela Stichera: Formula Melodies |
Znamenny Chant
(Old Rite) and
Russian New Rite Chant Systems
Small Znamenny Chant (commonly, but mistakenly called "Samoglasen"). These are common melodic formulas for each of the 8 Tones which are
used to sing stichera directly from text in the printed editions of
the service books. The Small Znamenny Chant system of melodies was developed
in order to sing the appointed hymns for all those occasions (non-feast
days and lesser feasts) when the hymns are not written out in chant
books with notated melodies. With these versatile melodies one can sing
virtually any given text.
In the Russian New Rite and in Southwestern Rus, several other repertoires
of stichera melodies have been introduced, including Kievan Chant, "Greek"
Chant, "Bulgarian" Chant, Bakhmetev, Court Chant, etc.
Byzantine Chant
(etc.)
It is interesting to note that there is no direct equivalent
of these flexible formulaic melodies in the Byzantine Chant tradition.
(see below)
| e) Automela/Samopodobny and Prosomia/Podobny melodies for Stichera |
Znamenny Chant
(Old Rite) and
Russian New Rite Chant Systems
The Automela/Samopodobny are the "model melodies"
which are well-known hymns from important feasts. The Prosomia/Podobny
are hymns which are sung according to the model melodies. Thus, it is
common to sing the hymns for a lesser-known saint according to the melodies
of hymns for a well-known saint (usually of the same type, such as Apostles,
Holy Fathers of the Church Councils, monastics, confessors, hierarchs,
etc.); it is no coincidence that the hymns of the lesser services were
composed following the models and themes of greater and earlier historical
occasions.
Byzantine Chant
(etc.)
In the Byzantine Chant tradition, for all those occasions
where the hymns are not notated in chant books with musical notation (non-feast
days and lesser feasts), the Greeks have a highly-evolved system of borrowing
melodies from well-known hymns which are notated in the chant books. (For
Russians, this tradition of borrowing melodies is less common, and instead
they rely heavily on the Small Znamenny Chant system.)
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