The History of Russian Vocal Music Boyarina (Lady) Yelizaveta Medvedeva, CM, SC, Sag, OTroub (Carolingia: COM, CDS, OPers) Barony of Carolingia, EK Copyright 1997 by Elizabeth Lear Folk Music Astonishingly, Russian musical culture was considered a 'desert' before Glinka produced his classical works in the19th century. In truth, there was an incredible heritage of music that was so ingrained in the Russian way of life that it was almost invisible. There was no direct record of folk songs until the time of Catherine the Great, but music had been a fundamental part of peasant life since pagan times. Organized efforts to collect and publish folk songs finally began in the late 1700s, but the gathering was random and indiscriminate and focused on urban areas rather than villages. This finally improved in the 1800s. The Eastern Slavs had work songs, ritual songs, and songs and laments that accompanied the betrothal and wedding rituals and births. Laments were also used for funerals. Then came dance songs, love songs, epics, and songs of complaint. The music was first influenced by all of the tribes and cultures settling in the area, and then by Greece and Rome after Russia became an Orthodox Christian country. The ritual songs, obryadovye, were full of pagan symbolism and had an archaic musical structure. They accompanied rites performed to promote fertility, health and prosperity which imitated activities like reaping, sowing, spinning, etc. Imitating or simulating labor was considered magic that would promote productivity. The khorovod - dance songs - took place with dancers in circle or two lines, acting out the characters or action of the dance. These were almost exclusively vocal music only, and did not become instrumental until much later. These were generally performed by young people, and told stories like romantic tales of princes and princesses. Gathering songs were sung to call young people to come and play and sing dance songs and kissing games. In the spring, these dances often featured pastoral deities like Did Lado and Lei. Games and rites varied with the seasons. Since they used a solar calendar and not a lunar one, the new year began on the winter solstice. Special songs called koljada or kolyada were sung in central Russia on the solstice, and later on Christmas Eve when the Church imposed that holiday over the pagan one. Koljada singing was much like carolling. A band of young people went from hut to hut and asked permission to sing. The content of the song was basically always the same - a narrative about how the singers had been looking for the hut and had found it, then praise for the host, his wife, and children. Then they would ask for food. If the food was good, they would sing again in praise of the host's generosity and promise him a good harvest. If the host was stingy, the singers would give comic abuse and promise misfortune. In pagan times, koljada were believed to have actual influence over events. This faded with the rise of Christianity, but the songs continued as games that still included the rituals of simulating sowing, plowing, etc. They also still had many pagan characters like Ovsen or Tausen, God of the fields. On New Year's, and later during Epiphany, fortune telling songs called podbliudnyia ("under the plate songs") were sung. Young girls would drop their rings into a bowl of water, then cover it with a towel or a plate. They would sing a short song about marriage, maidenhoop, separation, widowhood, death, journey, or riches. After each short song, a ring would be taken out of the bowl, and the fortune told in the song applied to the ring's owner. These songs resembled riddles, full of metaphors and imagery. Festival songs included Maslenitsa, the festival to invoke the spring. Vesnjanki ("spring songs") were sung to call the birds and welcome them, since it was believed that the birds brought the spring and that it could not arrive unless they came. Lyrical songs were sung at evening parties, and were often romantic. Women would spin or embroider while listening to fairy tales told by old women. The women would sometimes sing and dance or just talk. Men might show up later in the evening, but they were never allowed in. Young girls sometimes would go outside to talk with them instead. The lyrical songs developed regional differences, and the same song could be found performed in very different styles all over the country. Late in period most lyrical songs were about love, agriculture, robbers, repression, recruitment into the army, and revolution. Lyrical songs generally had slow tempos. Naturally, there were also cradle songs. The lyrics of these weren't important, just the melody and a soothing tone. In all music, there was generally only one note per syllable until the 15th century, though not always. All of the songs used allegories heavily, and are almost another language because of the cultural references needed to understand them. The bylini (also written as "byliny") are epic songs. The main characters are bogatyrs (knights) and heroes like Ilya Murometz. They were later influenced by historical figures like Ivan the Great, and post-period bylinas feature Peter the Great and Alexander II. As Moscow became the center of power in the 1500s, some bylini were rewritten to place the characters in "Moscow built of white stone", even if the historical event happened elsewhere. The bylini were loosely connected with actual people or events, though much embellished with fantasy. Historical people might be called by name, or might be transformed into a metaphorical character, like the Polovetsian Khan, Tugor, being sung of as the snake Tugarin who spits fire. Real people and events eventually became almost completely obscured by stereotypes of courage, resourcefulness, modesty, love of truth, pride, and independence. Spiritual songs emerged from kaliki pere khozhie , who were blind wandering singers or pilgrims traveling to Constantinople or Jerusalem. These kaliki became a common figure in Medieval Russia, and they also appeared as characters in bylini. Travel to holy places not only made Russians aquainted with foreign countries, it also influenced the subjects of bylini by introducing fantasy and superstition. Bylini is a term coined in the 1830s, and translates to "what happened". The peasants continue to call these songs starina, which means "what is old", and a performer of these songs is called a starinka, "old man". Bylini were generally performed as a mix of narration and singing, characterized by smoothness and solemnity. As with the normal evolution of music, styles were simple to begin with and became more complex over time. Many bylini were borrowed and used in Russian operas like Boris Gudnov and Sadko , and composers of the 19th century looked to the forms used in music of the 15th - 17th centuries for inspiration. When you listen to music and feel that it is Russian, then you have discovered "pesennost" - that quality which identifies a song as Russian. It's a very difficult concept to define, since it's more something you recognize when you hear it. Many people are familiar with the musical term monophonic - music consisting of a single melodic line, without additional parts or choral accompaniment. It is the oldest type of music. Then polyphonic music developed. That is music that consists of two or more melodic lines, each having individual significance and independence. The earliest extant polyphonic music dates from the 9th century, and it prevailed as the popular style in the West until the end of the 16th century. But there is another term which most people will not have encountered. Heterophonic music is a type of polyphony where two or more performers produce essentially the same melody with slight modifications on the parts. This style is frequently found in Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Javanese and African music. Unlike harmony and polyphany, heterophony did not seem to have any established "laws" dictating where the music would move. Wales also had a form of heterophony in the 13th C, as noted by Giraldus Cambrensis: "In their singing of music they do not produce their songs in unison, as is done elsewhere, but polyphonically with a number of different melodies so that in a crowd of singers ... you will hear as many melodies as there are people, and a distinct variety of parts finally coming together in a simple consonance." Folk songs were dictated by natural beauty and taste, and it was too hard to write rules for them or to understand them under a unified system like polyphony. This natural beauty is called "euphony": a compound of consonance and dissonance, with dissonance in a passing movement that never obscures the consonance. The peasant singer had no fear of parallel 5ths or octaves, sometimes even using parallel 2nds, 4ths and 7ths if the performer happened to like them. Folk songs simply lack a firm, clear tonic. All parts are equally important. The same sorts of styles were often used in church music as well. Russian music would start with a melody in solo intonation (zapevelo), then unexpectedly split into different parts that never wandered far from the melody, but rather for a time replaced it, then the parts would converge back to unison at the end. Folk collectors often did not know how to notate this style, and it was common for them to only transcribe one melody line unless they could hear discernable intervals. Some collectors tried to record the variant lines (podgoloski) separately, but the singers could not easily perform their lines alone because they weren't used to doing so. The attempts helped to formulate some of the rules of heterophony, though, and with the advent of audio recording ability the accuracy improved. But some aspects of the performances were so elusive, the transcriptions are error-filled to this day. CHURCH MUSIC Russia became a Christian country in 988, turning to the Orthodox Church for all of its ritual and trappings. Maim Brajnikov, "the most comprehensive of all modern scholars of Russian church music" says that Byzantine chants were no sooner on Russian soil (in the 10th century) than they began to change due to the culture and custom of the Russian people. These znamenny formed the musical base of the church. Znamenny were originally sung in Greek, but this became a mix of Greek and Slavonic in the 12th century (Slavonic was the predecessor of Russian, and is still used in the church today), and entirely Slavonic by the 14th century. Znamenny were used to illuminate and ornament the liturgy text, in much the same way as Gregorian and Byzantine chants. Liturgical chants are the only accurately recorded Russian music of the middle ages and Renaissance. Unlike folk songs, chants were notated in song books at least as early as the 11th century. These "libri usuales" were used during services and were collected and copied by scribes through out the Renaissance period. There are twenty-six original libri still in existence from the Kievan period of 11th-13th centuries, and a monastary in Pskov has books of liturgical melodies from the 16th century. Znamenny melodies are strictly tied to the texts - the length of the text phrase determined the length of the melodic phrase. There were no hard and fast rythmns or meter and the singer was free to use retards or breaks where they wanted, but melodic improvisation was not allowed. The canticle books often had patterns at the back that composers were expected to use when writing new znamenny. This made sure the new chants would fit in with the previous material. Like many arts of the medieval period, the best composers were those who came closest in style and skill to their masters, not someone who was doing something new. Church singing, like folk song, grew gradually and did not have credited composers until the era of Ivan the Great. Ivan himself is credited with writing a few znamennys. The Russian kruik , the musical alphabet, was derived from neumes but was different enough to cause widespread doubt about the meanings of many of the signs. Only the last stages of neume notations can be read with any certainty, and that mostly by Old Believers who fled the church during the reforms of 1666-67. Even in this century, the Old Believers still maintain many of the medieval rituals of the church. In 1936, author Alfred Swan visited an Old Believer commune in Riga. They sang their services from a songbook written in neumes and were conducted in the same manner shown in a 15th century engraving of John Ockeghem leading his choir in the cathedral of Tours. Regional isolation also caused variations in the church singing. The result was that similar signs were interpreted differently, adding to the difficulty in deciphering the signs' original meaning. These variations in tunes and melodies were called raspevy. Polyphony started to appear towards the end of the 16th century in the southern areas. Transcriptions of this music haven't been really sucessful because of the kurik neumes, but they are primarily demestvenny, the highly ornamented chants used for church high holidays and court occasions like the procession of the Tsar going to prayer. There is still debate over whether these are truly polyphonic - some scholars believe the parts were not meant to be sung at the same time. Odoyevsky said no in 1867, saying the parts had "not the slightest coordination in harmony". But Smolensky said yes in 1888, calling the style "native counterpoint" unique to Russian music, or heterophony. Soviet musicologists officially agreed with Smolensky in 1966. Another factor which has hampered the modern studies of the chants was the ban on all church-related matters after 1917 revolution. In 1668, Alexander Mezenetz headed a commision to revise and systemize the entire body of znamenny chants. His 'alphabet' was largely forgotten when church music went down new non-Russian paths, but in 1888, Smolensky printed a revised edition of this book. Although he acknowleged a return to the kurik notation was impossible, Smolensky encouraged students to learn to read the neumes. In 1772, the Holy Synod republished the works of Tikon and Mazanetz in four books of Western notation. This publication is the basis for most scholarship today on the znamenny style of liturgical chants. (details in handout) Many scholars made their own interpretations of the neume transcriptions, but no significant new material appeared until the 19th century, when a fifth volume covering Easter appeared. No background on sources was given for the new book, called Triodion, but it contains canticles in the last and most onamented period of their use, circa late 1600s or early 1700s. There was eventually a sixth volume which contained the previous five. We do not have more surviving examples of the period books because they were seen as useless - the notation style was no longer used, and changes had been made in the music itself in the late 1600s and 1700s. The parchment was seen as primitive in comparison with paper, and looked on with distain. Most original books of chants ended up being burned as fuel. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW KIEV 970-1240 Kiev began as a small village settled in the 9th century by Swedish vikings called Varangians. It's located on the Dnieper River, which functioned as a highway to Constantinople. As a result it thrived as a trading community and was wealthy, sophisticated, and envied. But the Grand Duchy of Kiev was devestated by the Mongol invasions in the 1200s and did not really recover until the 18th century. Music was important in Russian daily life - ceremonies, receptions, festivals and hunts all were occompanied by music. It was a popular pastime of the nobility, and some nobles even composed bylini or played instruments. Some in Novgodrod who showed great talent in the playing of the gusli ended up immortalized in bylini. The traditional funeral feasts and lamentations survived the onslaught of Byzantine culture that came with Russia's christianization in 988, and existed side-by-side with the new religion. The church did not approve of secular music, but the aristocrats supported singers and musicians, so the church had to take a tolerant attitude. The Kievan court even employed Russian and Western musicians. (Kiev was not entirely isolated - there are records of Germans and others from western European countries in Kiev at this time, and there were a large number of pilgrims passing through.) Music was also used at state functions, and military music was used for troop departures and during battles. Many of the epic poems refer to the sounds of trumpets and drums. It's not certain which influenced which, but trumpets were also used by the church and were the only acceptable instrument in their eyes. An ancient church precept states, "Just as a trumpet assembles warriors, during prayer it assembles heavenly angels, while gusli and sopeli assemble shameless devils." Trumpets were also used by town watchmen. Church music was vocal only - no instruments accompanied the singers. In 1633, Olearious, a German diplomat in Russia, wrote They do not allow organs or other musical instruments in their churches, arguing that since they have neither soul nor life, instruments can not praise God. The Grand Duchy of Kiev had been a very strong influence on the region in the middle ages, but it started to decline in the late 11th century as the Grand Duke started to lose authority over feudal principalities that were asserting their independence. This breakdown made it easier for the nomadic tribes of the east to invade southern Russia. Kiev was divided, and eventually formed three related but independent regions in the 13th century. Great Russia - Vladimir, Rostov and Novgorod Little Russia - the southwest regions Belorussia - the eastern regions Kiev's glory was never forgotten, though, and there was a new emergence of heroic epics that were characterized by nationalistic sentiment. NOVGOROD 1240-1480 While Kiev was the center of Russian power, Novgorod was second to it in importance. Novgorod imitated Kiev's architecture and culture, which made it an excellent 'storehouse' for preserving that culture during the Tartar domination (1238-1462). Novgorod was the largest and richest city in Russia from the 12th to the 15th centuries after Kiev was conquered and divided. Its relatively sheltered location spared it from much of the Tartar invasion, but it survived in style during the occupation of Russia primarily by submitting themselves completely to Tartar rule. They paid tribute, did homage to the "Tartar Tsar", and admitted Mongol tax-gatherers. In return, Novgorod was spared and became a merchant city and a great center of the arts, with new schools of architecture and icon painting thriving there. Russian art and literature flourished. Gusli playing was developed in Novogorod. The streets were paved with lumber in the 11th century (Paris did the same in 1184), and water was transported through wooden pipes. It should be noted that many tribes of the Mongols prefered to leave local culture alone as long as the conquered region remained peaceful and under control. They had no wish to control the hearts and minds of the people, they simply wanted the power and wealth of conquest and holding. Skomorokhi were minstrels, clowns, mummers, buffoons, actors, dancers, acrobats, puppeteers, magicians, animal trainers, and creators of epic songs and tales. They were ultimately described as umeltz - a versatile person. Skomorokhi were skilled and resourceful artists popular in all levels of society. They participated in every national festival, and their presence was required at family celebrations. Their place in society can be traced back to roles in pagan rituals and plays. They often used masks in these performances, and were said to have magic powers. Eventually, they evolved into the role of buffoon. An ancient bylina mention skomorokhi being honored at Prince Vladimir's banquet in Kiev. They were accepted at Ivan's court - he had them brought to Moscow from Novgorod, and employed them to satirize the boyars. They are even represented in illuminated manuscripts and frescos in Kiev's Cathedral of St Sophia, created in the 11th century (picture not clear enough to reproduce). This fresco shows several skomorokhi of non-Russian origin wearing jester costumes and performing instrumental music, dancing and acrobatics for the royal court. They are mentioned in folk songs, proverbs, and adages. One, literally translated, is "Don't teach me to dance, I am a clown myself." "Clown" is not a good translation into English for this because of our preconceptions of what a clown is. An equivilent of this would be "bringing coals to Newcastle". The church frowned on the skomorokhi, issuing condemnations, interdictions, and warnings against their "sinful plays". These plays, of course, attracted the common people and left the churches empty. Church literature even likened them to the devil. They also disliked the fact that skomorokhi played instruments like the gusli, the gudok, and the domra, since only trumpets and drums were sanctioned by the church. Skomorokhi preserved and created folk music. They traveled the country and were welcomed wherever they went, but they did not have social rights and the protection of the law unless they became attached to a noble household who would act as their patron. But they gained social status in Novgorod. They legal rights and were respected as citizens. They lived in special areas of the city, and passed their skills and arts on to their children. Skomorokhi in that city developed the Russian puppet show, which has singing and instrumental music in it. The characters have only slightly changed over the centuries, and survive in the present in the masks of Petroushka. Some skomorokhi became very wealthy and famous. Sadko was a gusli player who lived in the 12th century. He was noted as a wealthy merchant who built a stone church at his own expense, but he's primarily known as the subject of bylini that praised the power of his music-making. One bylini goes so far as to recall the Orpheus legend. Vasili Buslayev is another real person who became the subject of a number of bylini. He lived also lived in the 12th century, and in addition to being a noted gusli player he was a posadnik, a vice-regent of the Prince of Novgorod. Novgorod bylini differed from those of Kiev, which featured military heroism. In Novgorod they described daily life and the customs of the city, including the daring initiative of the merchants and the rivalries of the municipal groups. The skomorokhi also developed a sort of short story comic bylini, bylini-novelly, based on humorous family situations, deceived husbands, social satire or skomorokhi pranks. One bylini from Novgorod is titled "Pro Gostya Terentishcha", which means "About Guest Terentishcha". Terentishcha is the name of the wife of a foreigner, and the song is about the skomorokhi helping the husband discover that his wife is unfaithful. They also make fun of his "jingling money bags". (example in handout) Skomorokhi ballads have short lines, simple melodies, and rapid tempos. They also wrote comic dance songs called peregudkas which had lively tunes and precise rythmns. Skomorokhi remained an integral part of the Russian culture until the late 17th century when a sort of internal "holy war" started. The numbers of skomorokhi dwindled in the 18th century, and they were gradually replaced by Western-influenced professional musicians. Skomorokh-based name and place derivisons are still evident in some areas of Russia, like the surname "Skomorochov". They have never been forgotten in Russia because of the rich legacy they left behind. The Novgorod school of church singing produced many famous performers, composers and theorists. There were sacred plays performed in the churches that were similar to the sacre rappresentazioni of Italy. Novogorod developed the unique art of bellringing. Bell casting was highly developed in the city, and bells accompanied church services and ceremonies. While western bells still had wooden clappers, Russia was using ones of metal by the 15th century. Churches and monastaries developed their own styles. Olearius notes circa 1636: They consider the bell indespensible to their worship, and believe without it the service would not be well received. For this reason, the pristavs were astonished when on Michaelmas, the Swedish ambassadors told them they wished to celebrate their holiday too. They asked how it was possible [for the Swedes] to celebrate their holiday in Moscow if they had brought no bells with them on their long journey. A bell was used to call Novgorotsy to Veche. The Veche was a great council made of all the men of Novgorod. Questions and policies were settled by shouting or fighting, but it was unquestionably a reasonable form of democracy for the time. When the Moscow Tsar Ivan III conquered Novgorod in 1475, his first act was to remove the Veche bell, symbolizing the end of hope for parlimentary democracy in Russia. MOSCOW 1480- The first written reference to Moscow was in 1147, when it was mentioned as being the hunting lodge of a local boyar prince. Originally stettled by Finnish tribes, it was not really a city until the 1300s, and wasn't the center of power in Russia until about 1500. By 1700, Moscow was the unchallenged center of Russian civilization, but the riches of Moscow were assembled by impoverishing the smaller centers of local culture (a pattern repeated in the 1900s by St. Petersburg). The princes of Moscow began to consolidate Russian feudal principalities in the 15th century. They were basically fighting the Tartars for control of the land while the territories were already subjugated. They were also fighting off incursions from the west from the Grand Duchys of Poland and Lithuania. In 1380, Prince Dmitry Donsky won the battle of Kulikovo Field against the Tartars, fostering a growth in Russian patriotic poems, stories and songs. When Ivan III defeated the Tartars in 1480, the subsequent rise in nationalism also showed in all forms of literature, glorifying state events like victories over the Tartars, Poles and Lithuanians. Historical songs became very popular during the reign of Ivan IV, called Ivan the Great (Terrible) (1533-1584). Songs reflecting the glory of the Tsar replaced the old styles of bylini, and these new epics were characterized by less fantasy and poeticism and more realism and drama. Ivan had an unceasing love of music. He collected the most famous singers of Novgorod in his Moscow court. He even recommended teaching music in the schools in 1551. Much of the great architecture of Moscow was built between 1475-1680. The most creative liturgical period was the 16th century, when the country was under the control of Tsars who loved and respected the arts. The Moscow Tsars, especially Ivan IV, supported church singing and fostered its collection, printing, and performance. The Stoglavy Council in 1551 formulated rules for icon painting and church singing. They tried to discredit the skomorokhi and old folk customs, which were considered pagan. This treatise ended up being a critical source for period information (like Alexx's thieves class). The Domostroi is full of examples of how one must not indulge in secular music:" If they indulge in filthy or scurrilous conversation, dirty words, jesting, or any diversion - harps, hooting or dancing, clapping, galloping about, games, irreligious songs - then just as smioke drives away bees, so will the angels of God leave that table and that disgusting conversation." After the Turkish occupation of Constatinople in 1453, Moscow was called the "third Rome". It was considered a true home of the Orthodox faith. In 1472 Ivan III married Sophia, a relative of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine Palaeologus. Ivan assumed the title of "Tsar of All Russia". His grandson, Ivan IV, added the title "autocrat", making himself "Autocrat of All Russia". (little SCA joke there) Either Ivan III or his son Vasili Ivanovich established a chorus of 30 to 35 singers which accompanied him while traveling. This group later became the court chorus in the 18th century, and is currently called the Lenningrad Academic Chorus. The majority of the music, secular and liturgical, was at this point still vocal. Foreign visitors to the Russian court were struck by the difference between it and the courts of the West - Western court music was almost entirely instrumental, while Russian court music was primarily vocal. This reflects the power of the Church, which had always allowed more freedom in vocal music than in instrumental. Folk instruments were frowned on by the church. But in 1586, Queen Elizabeth sent a gilded clavichord to Irene, the wife of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich (1584-98). A royal ambassador wrote, "The Tsarina marvelled at the loud musical tones and crowds, by the thousands, clustered near the palace to hear the wonderful music." Unsurprisingly, organ music became popular in the Moscow court in the 17th century. Boris Gudnov (1598-1605) sent young Russians abroad to be educated, but his plan failed when none of them ever returned. The reign False Dmitry I (1605-6) had foreigners freely visting Russia and Russians going abroad. By the late 1600s the most prominent private homes had organs and instrumental enembles, and patronized foreign professional musicians. Some had Polish music tutors teaching them to play and sing, but this was looked on as sinful by the church which considered the preoocupation with secular music to be sinful. Following trends in architecture and literature, church music also became ornamented. These razvody ("tunes") became fixed, and were indicated by special signs. There were several hundred such signs by the 16th century. The singing of znamenny with razvody was very difficult, and skilled singers were highly esteemed. In the 16th century, church singing was also characterized by excessive expression. One pamphlet described the practices this way: "They bellow like bulls, kick their feet, shake their hands, and nod the heads like people who are posessed." The period of 1598-1671 was one of internal turmoil in Russia. There were peasant revolts, Cossack uprisings, a dissolution of folk customs, and a decline in traditions that was reflected in the songs of the time. Folk songs became full of discontent and began to glorify popular leaders who fought for the common people. Bytovye , songs of everyday life, were often parodies set to church music tunes. "Songs of the Freemen" romantically described the life of runaway slaves on the steppes who became Cossacks. There were satirical songs, aimed at religious and political authorities, about laziness, hypocrisy, and other bad traits. There were songs about the desire for personal freedom. Church music changed, adapting contemporary spellings and pronuciations and developing harmonic polyphony which replaced the monophonic style which had dominated for 500 years. The areas now known as Ukraine and Belorus were added to Moscow's territory in 1654. This meant the music of the Russian church was influenced again, this time by Ukranian church music which had elements of Polish Catholic music and the Ukranian choral singing style. Church music splintered into many styles, including choral concertos (which had choral and solo parts) and kants (music which had a strict form of A-A1-B-A2-B). Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich also cultivated the music and instruments of the west at this time. The schism in the church started in the late 1600s, partly for religious reasons and partly for political. The Patriarch of Moscow, Nikon, and the Tsar wanted to remove from the Russian Orthodox Church any differences from the Greek Orthodox Church, despite the Patriarch of Constantinope's decision that local churches were allowed their particular customs as long as the purity of Orthodox teaching and dogmatic truths were maintained. Everything from making the cross with two fingers instead of the Greek three fingers to the number of times one said "Alleluia" was examined and changed if it varied from the Greek service. But Russian traditionalists had been told for centuries by their own ideologists and visiting Eastern Patriarchs that the Russian Church was the "sole remaining stronghold of true faith in the world". Now they were being told that instead of their church being a stronghold of piety, it was full of foolish errors that needed to be eradicated. The Council of 1666-67 not only condemned the old church books and rituals, it also denounced the decisions of the Church Council of 1551 which had been seen as canonic law for a hundred years. The new Council also sought to destroy the independence of local religious communities and bring them under the influence of the Moscovy church. This is the time when the people known as the "Old Believers" (Raskolniki) left the church. They refused to accept the "corrected" versions of the music, prayers, and rituals. They were excommunicated from the Church for refusing to give up the practices they viewed as an inseparable part of the Russian Orthodox way of life. Thousands of Old Believers are said to have immolated themselves during this period or were burned at the stake. This historical period is the background for the opera Khovanschina. Skomorokhi, the minstrels and buffoons, also declined in the second half of the 17th century. They were banished from Moscow in 1649, labeled as "heralds of discontent" and "the embodiment of paganism". This had a great deal to do with the popular songs of revolt that were making the rounds of the country. The Patriarch of Moscow felt that music was "being misused in taverns and pothouses, as well as in the streets, for all kinds of debauchery and obscene songs. Accordingly, ... he ordered the destruction of any tavern musicians' instruments [ie, all folk instruments] seen in the streets. Thenb he banned instrumental music altogether and ordered the seizure of musical instruments in the houses; once, five wagon loads were sent across the Moscow River and burned there. The Germans, however, are permitted to have music in their homes, as is the great magnate Nikita [Romanov], the friend of the Germans, who has a harmonium and many other instruments in his palace. There is little the Patriarch can say to him." [Olearius] Cast out and hounded, some skomorokhi turned to vulgarity and some to thievery. Many fled to the far north with their families, and the skomorokhi bylini that have been collected and recorded came from that area. Those songs are still performed to this day. Unfortunately, the 17th century saw the advent of foreign influences that changed all aspects of Russian arts, making them more "western". At that point, Russian church music diverged from the znamenny chants. The last new original chants were transcribed in the late 1600s by Tikon of Makarievsk. When western notation came into use in the 17th century, all new works were produced in that style. Many old pieces were also preserved and transcribed into the new notation, but a very large section of the pre-1600 music is in a largely unexplained and undeciphered Russian musical alphabet. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bakst, James A History of Russian-Soviet Music. Dodd, Mead & Co, New York 1966: pp 3-16 Leonard, Richard Anthony A History of Russian Music. The MacMillan Co, New York 1957: pp 11-25 Lvov, Nikolai and Ivan Prach A Collection of Russian Folk Songs UMI Reasearch press, Ann Arbor, MI 1987 Mizynec, Victor Folk Instruments of Ukraine. Bayda Books, Doncaster, Australia 1987. Reeder, Roberta, trans and ed Russian Folk Lyrics. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN 1993 Riha, Thomas, ed Readings in Russian Civilization, Volume 1: Russia Before Peter the Great, 900-1700. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL 1964. Seaman, Gerald R. History of Russian Music, Volume 1: From Its Origins to Dargomyzhsky. Frederick A. Praeger, New York 1967: pp 1-54 Swan, Alfred J. Russian Music and Its Sources in Chant and Folk-Song. WW Norton & Co, New York 1973: pp10-47 Tcherepnin, Alexander Anthology of Russian Music. M.P. Belaieff, Bonn 1972