Despite the fact that the New Rite uses a different format for singing "Lord, I have cried" than the Old Rite, these selections are quite close to the neumatic originals, and may be considered as reliable Znamenny melodies.

In actual practice, however, the Small Znamenny melodies are usually simplified a bit because the model melodies found here tend to be too difficult to adapt to other texts. (See the comments on the Resurrectional Troparia at Matins.)

While this is certainly a Great Znamenny Chant melody, there can be no question that it is an adaptation or newer composition, since the pre-Nikonian text is noticeably different. In original sources the deacon intones "O gentle light..." and the choir then sings the rest of the hymn "...of the holy glory, etc." The text of the final phrase is also quite different, requiring a different melodic structure. For New Rite use, however, I feel that this setting is adequate.

The 2nd and 5th settings (on pages 25a-b and 26a) are "Common Chant" melodies and are similar to some of the pre-Nikonian versions, but they have different rhythms and melody. (The 3rd and 4th versions are not Znamenny melodies.)

In the Old Rite, the Prokeimena and Alleluia, wherever they are sung, are almost always sung according to special formulaic melodies which do not follow the Tones. In the New Rite, however, they are almost always sung to the Tones. In the case of the Vespers Prokeimena, the melodies in New Rite chant books reflect this practice; according to this standard, the Obikhod melodies for the Vespers Prokeimena are accurate.

There are alternate settings on pages 27b-28a labeled as "Abbreviated Znamenny Chant". They have no historical connection with the proper Znamenny repertoire and should not have been included in the Obikhod.

The settings of "God is the Lord" are quite faithful to the neumatic originals, and may be considered as reliable Znamenny melodies.

However, the Resurrectional Troparia do not correspond to pre-Nikonian practice. Historically, and by strict hymnological standards, it is not proper to sing Troparia using Stichera melodies, since these are two separate classes of hymns sung at different occasions. Before Patriarch Nikon's reforms, the Russian Church did not have a separate repertoire of melodies to sing Troparia, Sessional Hymns and Kontakia. The practice was either 1) to read these hymns and the chanters repeated the final phrase using the melody currently associated with Prokeimena, or 2) the chanters intoned them on a simple pattern of a few notes and the final phrase is sung to the elaborate Prokeimenon melody. The model for this liturgical style is derived from the Kontakion and Oikos, which were purposely written to have the same final phrase; St. Romanos ascended the ambon and chanted the kontakia, and the chanters sang the final phrase. There are a few notable exceptions that require borrowing the Stichera melodies (the Beatitudes troparia sung at the Liturgy), but this is acknowledged to be an improper practice, although justified by necessity and by the fact that these Troparia come instead from the Canons. (There are Great Znamenny settings of Troparia and Kontakia of the Great Feasts, but they are not contained in the Obikhod.)

After the church reforms of the mid-1600s and the acceptance of newer repertoires of chant melodies to replace Znamenny Chant, there evolved separate sets of melodies to sing Troparia, Sessional Hymns and Kontakia. Fortunately this preserved the dichotomy between Stichera and Troparia classes of hymns and is in accordance with their Greek origins. But since it now became the practice to sing these Resurrectional Troparia following "God is the Lord", it was felt necessary by musicians in the modern Russian Church to borrow the Small Znamenny Chant melodies for Stichera. Unfortunately, this is a violation of the principle of keeping Stichera and Troparia as separate classes of hymns.

The Small Znamenny Chant melodies found here have been slightly simplified to make them easier to sing to any given text (see the comments on the original model melodies at Vespers). These particular settings are important primarily because they give witness to HOW the Small Znamenny Chant was commonly sung in the 17th century. (It is interesting to note that Old Believers also tend to simplify the model melodies in almost the same manner.)

Since there are days when "Alleluia" is appointed to replace "God is the Lord", pre-Nikonian chant books also include settings of "Alleluia" in the 8 Tones according to melodies currently associated with Prokeimena. In this Obikhod these "Alleluia" melodies have been transferred to the Liturgy. Pre-Nikonian chant books also include the final phrase of the Resurrectional Troparia written out according to the Prokeimena melodies of the 8 Tones, giving witness to the older liturgical tradition.

As I mentioned previously in the commentary on the Vespers Prokeimena: In the Old Rite, the Prokeimena and Alleluia, wherever they are sung, are almost always sung according to special formulaic melodies which do not follow the Tones. In the New Rite, however, they are almost always sung to the Tones. In the case of the Matins Prokeimena, the melodies in New Rite chant books reflect this practice; according to this standard, the Obikhod melodies are accurate.

However, on page 56a (at the top) there is an example for how to sing the Prokeimena according to a common melody. The pre-Nikonian chant books provide a much more elaborate melody than what is given here.

These stichera for the feasts of the Annunciation, Nativity, Theophany, Palm Sunday and Transfiguration are fairly accurate settings of original neumatic chants. There are some occasional awkward phrasings resulting from the use of reformed Slavonic texts (such as in the first line of page 59a).

On pages 60a-b there are Small Znamenny Chant settings of these stichera. They do not appear in any pre-Nikonian books and I feel they have dubious origins.

Although these melodies have been adapted to the New Rite texts, they may be considered as reliable sources for the Heirmoi melodies. It should be kept in mind that Znamenny Chant does not have formulaic melodies for Heirmoi, but each Heirmos has its own melody.

There are additional settings on pages 73b-74b (Tone 2), 77a-78a (Tone 5), 82b-83b Tone 1), which are labeled "Small Znamenny Chant". Although these are slightly different from the versions preserved in the oral tradition of Old Believers, they give witness to the fact that Old Believers do in fact preserve simpler ways of singing the most common sets of Heirmoi, particularly for the Sundays in the 8 Tones, the general Katavasii for the Theotokos, and for some of the Canons sung at Molebens. It would be difficult to collect all these melodies because each community seems to have its own way of singing these Heirmoi. Furthermore, this is made more complicated by the fact that many communities of Old Believers living in remote areas and lacking education or books, have never learned to sing the Heirmoi from official chant books, but sing these "Small Chant" melodies exclusively.

These are faithful to original sources. (There are similar settings in the Sputnik Psalomshchika which repeat the text three times, but this is not according to the historical tradition. I recommend not using those settings.)

Following "Holy is the Lord our God", we sing the Exaposteilaria and the Praises on important feasts. There are Znamenny melodies for these, but the New Rite has not preserved them. (Some of the Exaposteilaria are preserved in the Prazdniki and Triod chant books.)

This melody does not resemble original pre-Nikonian sources, although it has a "Znamenny-like" feel to the melody. I have managed to locate some evidence (in a 3-part Strochnoe manuscript from the late 1600s) that this is either a composition or an adaptation of a regional melody (which I feel is more the case, since it preserves some of the rhythms and nuances of the original neumatic sources).

The concluding Trisagion resembles nothing found in neumatic sources. I have no idea where this comes from, and I personally don't feel it is a reliable melody. Pre-Nikonian sources give a more elaborate and melodic setting.

The inclusion of this hymn at this point in the services is a result of the Nikonian reforms. This is not the same melody found in pre-Nikonian books (there are several settings in the neumatic Prazdniki and Triodion). This setting, labeled "Znamenny Chant" sounds somewhat like Znamenny, but I have never seen this setting in any neumatic sources. Furthermore, the frequent repetition of the same melodic phrases makes me suspicious of its origins, since most Znamenny melodies make more use of the available "popevki" in each of the Tones. I am of the opinion that this is a post-Nikonian composition. Still, it could be genuine, and I am hesitant to rule it out altogether.

The Small Znamenny setting which follows is similar to the way this melody was presented earlier in the book, although it has a bit of awkwardness in a few places.

These two settings are similar to original neumatic sources, but do not have the same melodic nuances. The second setting is closer to some of the Znamenny settings in my extensive collection.

The Small Litany which follows is close to neumatic sources, although the rhythms are slightly different.

Notice that there are no Znamenny settings of the opening Psalms at the Liturgy. These are traditionally only read in the Old Rite, although on some feasts they are sung with Small Chant melodies according to the Tone of the Week or according to a Podoben melody.

The Znamenny "common melody" given here is not in accordance with the pre-Nikonian tradition, which sings "Alleluia" once, not as a "triple Alleluia". I have no idea where this melody comes from.

It is puzzling that the Alleluia melodies in the Znamenny 8 Tones are not included in this Obikhod, although they may be found in the Triodion and the Sputnik Psalomshchika. According to New Rite practice, these are the proper melodies to use.

The Augmented Litany is similar to the neumatic version, but the "Amen" is quite different.

The other litanies, presented on the fifth and sixths staves but not labeled as Znamenny, are similar to neumatic sources, but have significantly different nuances and rhythms.

This melody is similar to the original neumatic version, but there are a few places where the original chants have more distinctive rhythms. The neumatic notation also conveys more information about phrasing and melodic stress, which is lost in staff notation. This version seems a bit bland in comparison.

One of the distinctive changes that resulted from the church reforms is the "Triple Alleluia" at the end of the Cherubic Hymn. Here the long melismatic melody has been retained, but two simple repetitions of the word "Alleluia" have been inserted just before the original version of the "Alleluia" melody.

Here the Lord's Prayer is set to a "Common Chant" melody, while there are no known examples of this being set to neumatic notation. I think it represents a regional melody, although it certainly is monotonous and unimaginative. It is possible that it is a type of "communal ecphonesis", a communal manner of intoning or reciting the text, and it was perhaps not intended to be "sung".

The following dialogue has noticeably shorter melodies than the neumatic originals. While one can see that they are indeed based on the neumatic melodies, upon comparison it is apparent that they were deliberately simplified.