The Author’s Foreword from Boris Ledkovsky’s Obikhod
In publishing this Obikhod, my aim has been to restore the traditional melodies of Russian church singing to a sound closer to their authentic form, taking as my guide the unison Obikhod—the so-called “square note” edition—published in 1792 by the Most Holy Governing Synod¹.
A glance at the history of our church singing reveals that its foundation was the Byzantine chant, received together with the adoption of the Greek Orthodox faith. This Byzantine chant was not adopted literally, but was gradually adapted and reshaped in accordance with Russian musical sensibilities, giving rise to our native “znamenny” chant (eleventh–twelfth centuries). These chant melodies were recorded by church singers of that time using special signs (variously known as “kriuki” [“hooks”] or “znamiona” [“banners”] or “stolpy” [“pillars”]), since five-line staff notation had not yet been developed. From these signs the chant took its name: znamenny or stolp chant. The chief center of its development was the city of Great Novgorod.
Later, in Kievan Rus’, there emerged another native chant known as Kievan chant. While it bears some resemblance to the znamenny, it is distinguished by greater liveliness and melodic brevity.
Both the znamenny and Kievan chants are the products of the folk creative spirit—not the work of any single composer, but shaped gradually, like folk songs, from unknown origins. They hold immense value, for in them is expressed the very soul and heart of the religious Russian people. Sadly, in our own time few appreciate or truly understand them. Together, these two chants form the essential foundation of Russian Orthodox liturgical singing; they are the true national voice of our sacred chant.
Notes
Editor’s note: This is likely a typographical error, since in the series of Obikhod editions of the Synodal period—from 1772 to 1909—there is no Obikhod published in 1792. See, for example, A. A. Guseva, Katalog izdanii kirillovskoi pechati 1801–1918 gg.: iz sobraniia NIO redkikh knig (Muzeia knigi) Rossiiskoi gosudarstvennoi biblioteki [Catalog of Cyrillic-print editions, 1801–1918, from the Collection of Rare Books (Museum of the Book) of the Russian State Library] (Moscow: Indrik, 2021). Тhe composer may have had in mind one of the editions published closer to his own time, likely the 1892 Obikhod.
