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3. Heirmologic Genre

REPERTOIRES (Scores) – SOURCES (printed & manuscript)

a) Heirmoi (Idiomela)
b) Festal Katavasii composed in the Sticheraric genre (Byzantine Chant)
c) Festal Refrains on the 9th Ode
d) Simplified Heirmoi and Katavasia melodies ("na raspev", Russian Old Rite)
e) Festal "Zadostoiniki" composed in the Sticheraric genre, etc. (Russian Old Rite)
f) Generic formula melodies (Russian New Rite)

The Heirmologic hymns (heirmos, -oi) are simpler than hymns of Sticheraric composition. In both Byzantine and Russian repertoires (as well as all the other ethnic repertoires, such as Serbian chant, Georgian Chant, etc.), they generally tend to have less complex (monosyllabic) melodies, and are sparing in melismatic passages and ornamentation. The hiermoi are sung with a more lively tempo than stichera, and one could easily describe the melodies as pleasant and "singable".

The Heirmologic Genre includes all the Heirmoi of the canons. In addition, the Refrains for the 9th Ode of various festal canons may be grouped in this genre, as well as other settings of the Heirmos melodies (see below). The standard chant repertoire is contained in a book entitled "Heirmologion" (in Slavonic: Irmologion, Irmologii, Irmoloi).

Heirmologia are arranged in three different formats:

1) Byzantine Chant Heirmologia are usually arranged according to the yearly cycle of feasts, including the Triodion-Pentecostarion cycle. Each "chapter" contains the Heirmoi for each feast, as well as festal refrains and Katavasia melodies. (There are various chant books which contain only Katavasii, which are usually sung in a more stately manner. Many of these are compositions by notable Byzantine hymnographers.) Most Byzantine Chant Heirmologia contain the complete Canons for the Great Feasts, including the Heirmoi and Troparia for each Ode of the Canon, but they usually provide only the Heirmoi for lesser feasts. The Heirmoi are used as model melodies for singing the Troparia, and the Troparia usually share the same metre (number of syllables and similar rhythms and accents) as the Heirmoi they are modeled after. The Heirmos for each Ode, however, has its own textual metre, with varying numbers of phrases and syllables. Thus, for lesser feasts, the chanter sings the Heirmoi notated in the chant book, but he is expected to sing the Troparia according to the same melodies (which obviously requires a certain degree of skill and training). Most ethnic groups which derived their chanting systems from the Greeks (including the Bulgarians, Serbians, Romanians, etc.) pattern their Heirmologia after the Greek model.

2) Znamenny Chant Heirmologia are arranged according to the 8 Tones (not by the feasts, as the Byzantine Chant books are). Due to the inability of Church Slavonic translations to retain the same metric structure as the Heirmoi, it was felt necessary to abandon the singing of Canon Troparia early in the history of the Russian Church (except at Pascha). With the shift in focus for how to perform Canons, medieval scribes decided to collect all the Heirmoi for each Tone and arrange them according to the Odes. While less than ideal, the system remains in use among the Russian Old Ritualists and those who use the Synodal square-note chant books.

3) Southwestern Rusyn Irmologia are not true Heirmologia, but are best described as Anthologia or "Sborniki". These are collections of all the hymns for the year that are used frequently and are most important in the Festal and Triodion cycles. These books are a selection of materials from the Obikhod (daily cycle of services), the Octoechos (including the Heirmoi for the Sunday Canons), the Great Feasts, the Lenten Triodion and the Pentecostarion. The repertoire varies among the different editions, which are frequently used to encourage congregational singing. (Trained cantors traditionally sing the portions of the service that are not included in the Irmologia.)

There are five sub-categories of the Heirmologic Genre in the various singing traditions:

a) Heirmoi (Idiomela) — In all the traditional systems of chant the Heirmoi are almost all Idiomela (i.e., they each possess their own unique melody that is not shared with other texts). The only exceptions are in the Russian New Rite (see below).

All of the Russian Znamenny Heirmoi are believed to be derived from several early Slavonic Heirmologia manuscripts in Russia, the Balkans and Mt. Athos (Chilandar monastery), which have been extensively documented and studied. The Heirmoi are undoubtedly the most faithfully preserved repertoire of the ancient Byzantine chants that were brought into Russia. (There is ample melodic evidence to prove this, especially considerring that there exists close melodic connections between the 1-5, 2-6, 3-7, 4-8 pairing of Tones, similar to the pairing of authentic and plagal Tones in Byzantine Chant; Tones 2 and 6 are nearly identical. Most likely, the original transcriptions of the Byzantine chant melodies for use with the Church Slavonic language were done in the 12th century at the Chilandar monastery, a Bulgarian community on Mt. Athos, but currently there is insufficient evidence to prove this theory.)

b) Festal Katavasii composed in the Sticheraric genre (Byzantine Chant) — Some Byzantine chant books contain lengthy melismatic settings of the Katavasii of canons for many of the Great Feasts. These compositions based on the Sticheraric genre are usually not included in standard printed editions of Heimologia, but are found in separate collections.

c) Festal Refrains on the 9th Ode — These are sung before the 9th Ode and between the Troparia, replacing the usual refrains.

d) Festal "Zadostoiniki" composed in the Sticheraric genre, etc. (Russian Old Rite) — Some chant books contain lengthy melismatic settings of the 9th Ode of canons for the Great Feasts (the "Zadostoiniki", which are also sung at the Divine Liturgy), but these are medieval compositions based on the Sticheraric genre, and do not properly belong in the Heirmologia. Among the various ethnic divisions of Orthodoxy, there are numerous collections of these "Katavasii" by Byzantine Chant composers, Great Znamenny and Put' Chant settings in Muscovite Russia, and Bolgar Chant melodies in Southwestern Rus.

e) Simplified Heirmoi and Katavasia melodies (Russian Old Rite) — Russian Old Ritualists continue to maintain the use of the Znamenny Heirmoi, but with the passage of time, many communities have simplified the most common Heirmoi for Sunday at Matins, for the Katavasia of the Theotokos, and for some of the most common feasts. This style of "rounding off the corners" (or "smoothing out the bumps") of the more complicated melodies is called singing "na raspev" (by melody); each region seems to have its own method of simplifying the melodies, but the Katavasia of the Theotokos have evolved into a fairly common set of simple melodies throughout most Old Rite communities.

f) Generic formula melodies (Russian New Rite) — While all the Znamenny Heirmoi are Idiomela (i.e., they each possess their own unique melody that is not shared with other texts), the manner of singing Heirmoi in the modern Russian Church is simpler than the Old Rite. Since the modern Church has abandoned the neumatic notation and in most places has not retained the use of the Synodal square-note Irmologion, the practice of sing the Heirmoi according to generic formula melodies was imported from Kiev and Southwestern Russia in the second half of the 17th century. There are melodies in the Kievan, Simplified Kievan, "Greek", Simplified "Greek", "Bulgarian", Simplified "Bulgarian", and common Moscow repertoires (raspevy), as well as the later "Court Chant" and "Common Chant".