Kondakarnoie Pienie in the History of Melizmatic Chants of Medieval Rus'

Abstract

The article is devoted to the earliest type of melizmatic chant of the Russian Middle Ages – kondakarnoie pienie, which was intended for cathedrals. The style of kondakarnoie pienie can be imagined today based on individual samples, trial transcripts of which were made by the author. The style of kondakarnoie pienie belongs to the style of “monumental historicism” (a term of D. S. Likhachev); its uniqueness lies in the fact that, unlike znamenny raspev, it had no analogues in the folklore of that era. The technique of melizmatic chant was transferred from Byzantium, ahead of its appearance in folklore by at least 400‒500 years. The article traces the history of the development of melizmatic chants in the Russian Church and shows the continuity of kondakarnoie pienie in the new chants of Muscovite Rus'. Its evolutionary character is revealed in various aspects: the polygenre composition of Kondakar', common to the Byzantine Papadiki and the Russian Obikhod and Demestvennik; the technique of singing “prosomoia”; the revival of the style of “monumental historicism” in the period of “second monumentalism” (a term of D. S. Likhachev), when melizmatic chants of different types appeared: bolshoy znamenny, bolshoy putevoy and bolshoy demestvenny; the revival of some features of kondakarnoie pienie – anenaiki and khabuvy, grecisms ‒ in putevoy and demestvenny chant; partial borrowing of forms of kondakarian notation in the so-called “drobnoye znamia” when recording the melismatics of znamenny chant. A parallel is drawn between the Palaeologus Renaissance and the Russian spiritual Renaissance during the period of Muscovite Rus'. The centuries-long evolution of melizmatic chants in Russian sacred music defined melody and melodiousness as the most important typological properties of domestic professional art, and kondakarnoie pienie, as an early melizmatic chants, played its leading role in this.

Received 30 September 2025

Revised 20 November 2025

Accepted 28 November 2025

 For citation: Pozhidaeva, G. A., 2025. Kondakarnoie Pienie in the History of Melizmatic Chants of Medieval Rus'. Slavic World in the Third Millennium, 20 (3–4), pp. 9–35. https://doi.org/10.31168/2412-6446.2025.20.3-4.01