 | Cathedral Rituals and Chanting Practices among the Medieval Orthodox Slavs - Kondakarnoie Pienie : The Forefeast, Christmas and Epiphany Cycles This study explores Kondakarnoie Pienie, a musical phenomenon that flourished in Kievan Rus' from the 11th-13th centuries and is preserved in only five manuscripts. Stimulated by the global digitization initiatives undertaken by the major holdings East and West, previously inaccessible primary source material has come available. As a result the current investigation is a reassessment of earlier work accomplished. It addresses aspects of musical palaeography, liturgical context and function, and performance practice. The music examined is the chant cycles for the Forefeast, Christmas and Epiphany celebrations, a substantial body of comparable musical material that furnishes explicit evidence of the appropriation of Byzantine cathedral chanting practices by the medieval Slavs. Gregory Myersholds a MLIS degree and a PhD. in historical musicology from the University of British Columbia. An independent scholar, publisher, translator and bibliographer, Myers specializes in the music of Eastern Europe, specifically Russia and the Balkans, and researches, publishes and lectures on issues of medieval music (Byzantium and the Slavs) and the post-World War II musical developments of these countries. Myers has held research fellowships at the Moscow State Conservatory, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library in Washington DC, Ohio State University, the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and recently, the Center for Advanced Study in Sofia, Bulgaria. |
