Znamenny Chant

Znamenny Chant (Russian: Знаменное пение, знаменный распев) is a singing tradition used in the Russian Orthodox Church. Znamenny Chant is unison, melismatic liturgical singing that has its own specific notation, called the stolp notation. The symbols used in the stolp notation are called Kryuki (Russian: крюки) or Znamena (Russian: знамена). Often the names of the signs are used to refer to the stolp notation. Znamenny melodies are part of a system, consisting of Eight Modes (intonation structures; called hlasy); the melodies are characterized by fluency and well-balancedness. There exist several types of Znamenny Chant: the so-called Stolpovoy, Malyj (Little) and Bolshoy (Great) Znamenny Chant. The Ruthenian Chant (Prostopinije) is sometimes considered a sub-division of the Znamenny Chant tradition, with the Muscovite Chant (Znamenny Chant proper) being the second branch of the same musical continuum.

Read more about Znamenny Chant:  Notation, Current Usage and Related Traditions, Performing Practice

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