Principles of stratification of melodic formulas of old Russian out-of-ichos chants (with “opekalovo” “sepulchral” chants)

Abstract

Out-of-ichos chants constitute an integral and extensive layer in the Old Russian tradition. Their structure is based on melodic formulas, the principles of stratification of which are insufficiently defined and developed in modern musical medieval studies. This article presents the result of a study in this aspect of the melodic formulas of the "opekalovsky" "sepulchral" Trisagion and the stichera "Come to please Joseph". On the basis of 9 known pre-reform lists of stichera and 11 selected lists of the Trisagion the author compiled a set of "opekalov" melodic formulas, determined their total number, and then identified elements that make it possible to establish the presence or absence of etymological relationship between the melodic formulas. Such elements are modal-melodic markers of 2 types: 1) marker-core – an intonation-rhythmic complex of sounds, 2) marker-contour – a sequence of significant tones, determined analytically. On the basis of the presence of a particular marker, most of the "opekalovsky" melodic formulas (303 out of 310) are grouped into families – there are 24 such families. 10 of them do not have additional stratification within themselves. In 14 families the stratification is more complicated: they have groups of formulas, as well as a series of groups of formulas.In the course of the analysis of the "opekalovsky" formulas, signs were identified that make it possible to distinguish their true, etymologically determined relationship from homonymy, which can be expressed in the partial coincidence of the intonational-rhythmic contours of unrelated formulas or even in the presence of completely identical fragments in them.As the study of "opekalovsky" "sepulchral" hymns has shown, on the whole the principles of stratification of their melodic formulas are not new and are partly known from other musical material. But it seems that the strata of "opekalovsky" formulas are much more numerous than those strata that are currently defined for the formulas of ichos chants.